this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
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The Witcher
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He's right, Cavill's Geralt was perfect. The Witcher author is still a bit of a wanker, though.
Why is he a wanker?
Sapkowski doesn't/didn't believe that video games are a worthwhile medium of telling a story.
When CDPR wanted to make the first licensed Witcher game, he wanted a one-time payment of about 10k USD or thereabouts because he didn't believe they'd be successful. When they made it big with The Witcher 3, he sued them for their profits, claiming that the licensing contract only covered a single game. They settled the lawsuit, and I think they have a new contract that gives Sapkowski part of the profit.
Dmitry Glukhovsky, author of the Metro novel series, publicly called him an old fool for this on the dead bird site. He's probably right, the games are what propelled his books to worldwide fame.
Lol I only heard of the Witcher because of the games.
When the Witcher 1 came out he definitely had a point about Video Games limitations. Even though it was possible to make an artful video game in those days, game devs very rarely were, and games were still being marketed mainly to teens. By the time of Witcher 3, storytelling in gaming had gotten much better, but to this day, a video game can't match the narrative and writing of a top tier movie or book
Dude, Planescape: Torment came out over two decades ago.
I dont remember everything, but hes been complaining nonstop about how CDPR is ruining his franchise, said they robbed him of money because the games are worth more than the rights he sold to them, something about how they butchered the books, and continues to claim the books are far more popular than the games.
Idk there was a lot and i might be misremembering things and forgetting others
Yeah he basically said the game would never make money, so he took a relatively small lump fee up front rather than a percentage royalty. Then the game was very successful. I'm pretty sure he did alright with the sequels - by accounts CDPR were really gracious - but he still moaned a lot.
He then kept saying that the games had no influence on the success of the franchise - nevermind that hardly if any of his books were even translated until after the games, in particular after gamers explicitly asked for them to be translated.
That alone doesn't make him a wanker, but his overall attitude does. He never had anything good to say about the show (and hey, maybe he was right there in the end..) and I feel like the main reason he likes Cavill is because Cavill is always adament about staying true to the source material.
It's basically a classic case of loving the art but hating the artist.
Maybe he should write better books lol
He created one pretty-decent character, but he would have 0 real fame if it weren't for CDPR
I don't remember him saying the games butchered his work. From what I remember je doesn't care for them beyond the payout they "owed" him. He doesn't understand the medium at all and afaik doesn't know much about the story in them. And even if he did, it's all on the level of fan fiction to him (which is fair - he is reportedly writing another book from the universe and I understandnhe doesn't want to be tied down by things someone else wrote in his universe)
I think you're giving him too much credit. He absolutely does understand the medium, he just trash talks it. CDPR wanted to give him a percentage royalty, but he demanded a lump fee up front. Then the game was successful and he had egg on his face. Ever since, he's claimed that the games had nothing to do with the success of the franchise.
Which is hilarious, because when 99% of people are talking about the Witcher, they do not connect him or his novels with it at all.
For all the wanking
He's published. I'd wank too.