CD Projekt REDNot all that long ago, we reported that Andrzej Sapkowski, the original author and creator of The Witcher novels demanded £12 million in compensation from developer CD Projekt RED.
Sapkowski had claimed he was owed additional royalties, but CD Projekt responded, saying that the author expected royalties “beyond what had been contractually agreed upon between himself and the Company.”
For context, Sapowski sold the rights to make a video game from his novels for a flat fee, believing the games wouldn’t really catch on. Obviously, he never predicted the huge success of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
CD Projekt RED went on to reveal that Sapkowski was looking for at least 6 percent of the profits that the developer gets from The Witcher games, and 60 million Polish zlotys (over £12 million) in compensation.
At the time, the developer called these claims “groundless”, though said it would look to resolve the matter any way it could as a show of respect to the author who inspired the video game series that put CD Projekt on the map.
Now it seems that the two parties have come to an agreement, according to a new report from Polish outlet Puls Biznesu, which write that an “amicable” settlement has been reached.
CD Projekt RedAs per the report from Puls Biznesu, it sounds like CD Projekt RED is happy to provide additional compensation to Sapkowski as a way of recognising that he is the man responsible for bringing The Witcher into the world and inspiring the games in the first place.
Though the amount is reportedly much lower than what the author had initially asked for, hopefully both parties can move on from this and maintain a strong relationship.
Given The Witcher franchise has since gone on to sell over 25 million copies worldwide, you can see why the author might have some regrets. Hopefully he made a better deal with Netflix for their upcoming show.
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Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.