While you're right, I still can't see what PR hit it would be. CDPR legally bought the IP, and have full rights to it. They'll cut him a check for $2.3 million, lawyers will take $750,000, and that'll be the end of it.Kerg3927 said:
The $16 million drama between CDPR and Andrzej Sapkowski (and stubborn gaming industry stigmas)
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Yeah, copyright law usually forces companies to enforce their copyrights. Take the fan made vanilla WOW servers. If Blizzard didnt shut that down, they could lose their IP.Silentpony said:
Your example is just another unfortunate situation caused by copyright. Although the owners of CDPR sound like a-holes like Bezos and probably wouldnt give him a dime anyway.
While I get that, in that if you let someone steal a little of the IP you have to let anyone else steal some, how is the Witcher problem equivalent? In that Witcher author man isn't trying to write a new book or sell the Witcher to EA or anything. He's just claiming he wants more money.trunkage said:
To me its more like you bought a used car from someone, and then after seeing you've driven it happily for 10 years to a well paying job, they're now demanding more money.
It sounds like he did get a cut, he just choose to take it up front instead of opt for any cut of future payments. If the contract they signed stipulated otherwise or if there was some shady dealings involved at the time, he might have a case.Addendum_Forthcoming said:
But on the face of it, it sounds like he didn't care until Witcher 3 made it huge and now he's kicking himself because he didn't ask for residuals. I imagine Russia kicked themselves for selling Alaska once oil was discovered there too.
I got nothing against the guy but honestly it's hard to see why he deserves anymore then what he already agreed to way back when. OTOH, I'm not a lawyer, I haven't see the contract and legal action might say he is due some kind of extra payment due to wording of the original agreement, but it's hard from what I've seen from here is that he's being salty because he decided to forgo the residuals in favor of cash up front and he's seeing how much money he could have been getting.
Kerg3927 said:
Yeah, my hope is that there could just be more mutual respect shown in the end of all this between the two parties. I hold the unpopular opinion that the original game is still in some ways the best. As rough as the gameplay was it was still functional in a quirky sense, but what really drew me in besides the game design in terms of inventory and questing was the atmosphere, music and setting, along with the characters. No doubt Sapkowski deserves credit for establishing a baseline, but it was up to CDPR to breath more virtual life into something that was purely imaginative on paper. I?d be more interested in hearing Sapkowski?s thoughts of how close they came to his ?vision? than anything else, really.
Kerg3927 said:
That's because Sapkowski is a bit of an elitist dick. And at the time of the deal CDPR were the little guys. Sapkowski also benefited from their success.
Well, at the very least he has that Netflix deal, so one can't be too sorry for him. I imagine that's going to make him a pretty penny.Dalisclock said:
Yeah, except scale that up by a factor of tens of thousands. You sell your used car for $10,000. Then later it's discovered that it is an ultra rare model, and it's the only one of its kind in existance and worth $300 million. Is there anyone in this thread who wouldn't feel at least a little bit like they got screwed? Is there anyone here who honestly would be too proud to ask for a small cut of that?Silentpony said:
The difference is at the time it wasn't a rare model. When the author sold the rights, the Witcher wasn't a 3 game blockbuster series, it was just an unknown Game of Thrones type story. CDPR built the Witcher into what it is.Kerg3927 said:
To go back to the car analogy, the author sold a rusted, engine-less, broken and disassembled Delorean, and CDPR spent years painstakingly refurbishing it and making into the Back to the Future car, and now the original author wants a cut of what its worth now, after someone else did all the hard work.
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The weird thing is that with polish copyright law is that it sounds like even though he did sell the rights for just a lump sum since he didn't like video games. Since the games were so successful he can request an increase to the amount he is paid. So that is super weird and it sounds like he might have a decent chance at winning.
Not actually any other country.Gethsemani said:
Copyright is a thing out of Common Law. Most of continental Europe doesn't actually use it and relies on similar but distinctively different equivalents. Usually authors can't sell all rights, only some rights. The Polish version is nothing special.
The degree to which his his story and characters contributed to CDPR's success is debatable. I think it was pretty significant, maybe even the biggest factor in the company's success. I didn't even like the three games all that much, but I played through all three because I liked Geralt and the world. But that's something that will be sorted out by the lawyers in their settlement discussions.Silentpony said:
Given that Sapkowski ripped off Michael Moorcock's Elric, I hope CDPR fights it all the way and he gets to eat a bag of dicks.
I'd be somewhat sympathatic to his cause if he hadn't acted like such a dick prior to all this. He sold the rights for peanuts because he thought videogames were just some lame toy, then he continues to shit-talk the medium even when Witcher 3 hits it big, saying the popularity has nothing to do with the game and everything to do with the books (pffft), and NOW he wants to cash in on the hard work of others that he previously derided!?
Dude, fuck you. At least stand by your crap; don't suddenly turn around and ask for cash when the idea you turned your nose up at turns out to be a winner.
Dude, fuck you. At least stand by your crap; don't suddenly turn around and ask for cash when the idea you turned your nose up at turns out to be a winner.
While I can only understand in a basic sense how that level of discrimination must feel, I can empathize that it must get old. What needs to happen imo if we?re really to be considered an advanced species goes beyond mere protection by law, and into a more humanistic territory of acceptance and inclusion. As far as I?m concerned, anyone who can demonstrate a sense of personal responsibility and mutual respect for their fellow human beings? existence should be considered a worthy and vital member of society. The rest can be exiled, whoever the hell they may be.Addendum_Forthcoming said:
There are few facets here.
(1) Poland after decades of forced socialist regime and building communism by USSR in it, simply had NO law protecting intellectual property
rights after transformation. And you would do yourself a favour reading a bit about CDProjekt beginning. At start they were benevolent 'pirates' in a 'wild west' state. However, when finally proper legislation was passed, they did not continue (like other companies) to try and pirate things regardless of the fact that it is illegal or close down shop. They reformed their business and tried to continue becoming one of the first publisher's in Poland. Approaching western game industry companies (ie. BioWare) and asking if they can localize and sell their products on this rather hostile market to foreigners (raging piracy, common people were still getting their games illegally). So in short they were avid gamers, that after being pirates, became publishers and later on opened studio to start creating their own games.
(2) After the chaos at start, state went a bit overboard with regulation and protection. Enter clause 44. But you would need to understand what sort of mob controlled, corrupt and violent state was Poland in '90s of previous century. People were (and to a degree still are) demoralized and hostile towards their own state - that is natural after atrocities of communism and iron rules of the Party.At start there were illegal TV stations, radio stations, 'publishers' (books, games, music you name it - yes they were just copying it all without any fee for authors). After these became illegal, mafia took over and continued. It took another half a decade to eradicate that. If you ever had any dealings with organized crime you would know that they do tend to pressure rather efficiently legal deals that are not in favour of non-mob party and it's nigh impossible after, to prove in court that this were due to series of unfortunate events that happened to the pleading person, not just because they 'changed their mind' now. It was 'easier' to construct the law that if there is discrepancy, there is valid claim, judge should evaluate.
(3) Sapkowski is a petty man. He's a 'hard leftists' that is a 'sexist'. He's 'a tough guy' with physique that would let 12 yo girl to beat the living shit out of him. He is rabid entrepreneur, that hates capitalism. He tries to be 'smart guy' but ends up making decisions that lose him tons of money. There are heaps of anecdotes about his overblown ego and you can probably just google and dig up few brow rising quotes about his own books, fans, video games, people etc.
IMO he is an ever unhappy man, that now became a bitter old, grumpy gramps, who his all live concentrated only on everything negative around him and every little depressing and 'unfair' thing said and done to him but ignored everything he had, achieved and created and all positive things that came his way (cautionary tale to the lot of you youngsters btw).
(4) Sapkowski is a brilliant writer. He had not created a lot but you should give a try 'Hussite Trilogy' at the very least. Not just the Witcher. Perhaps that's a lot due to his flaws and quirks and overall 'douche-baggery'. Perhaps he writes and puts on paper things he always fails to articulate interacting with people. Only thing that matters here is that you should separate evaluating man's character and his works/deeds.
Having said all that. Likely CDPR will settle with him. Not for that crazy pile of money but still. Judge in court is likely to destroy Sapkowski's case, even though he has 'valid' claim and 'humiliate' him. I doubt CDPR would like that for this 70yo, about to kick the bucket, goblin. So if he isn't going to be stupid about it - yet again - he'll get few millions out of it.
(1) Poland after decades of forced socialist regime and building communism by USSR in it, simply had NO law protecting intellectual property
rights after transformation. And you would do yourself a favour reading a bit about CDProjekt beginning. At start they were benevolent 'pirates' in a 'wild west' state. However, when finally proper legislation was passed, they did not continue (like other companies) to try and pirate things regardless of the fact that it is illegal or close down shop. They reformed their business and tried to continue becoming one of the first publisher's in Poland. Approaching western game industry companies (ie. BioWare) and asking if they can localize and sell their products on this rather hostile market to foreigners (raging piracy, common people were still getting their games illegally). So in short they were avid gamers, that after being pirates, became publishers and later on opened studio to start creating their own games.
(2) After the chaos at start, state went a bit overboard with regulation and protection. Enter clause 44. But you would need to understand what sort of mob controlled, corrupt and violent state was Poland in '90s of previous century. People were (and to a degree still are) demoralized and hostile towards their own state - that is natural after atrocities of communism and iron rules of the Party.At start there were illegal TV stations, radio stations, 'publishers' (books, games, music you name it - yes they were just copying it all without any fee for authors). After these became illegal, mafia took over and continued. It took another half a decade to eradicate that. If you ever had any dealings with organized crime you would know that they do tend to pressure rather efficiently legal deals that are not in favour of non-mob party and it's nigh impossible after, to prove in court that this were due to series of unfortunate events that happened to the pleading person, not just because they 'changed their mind' now. It was 'easier' to construct the law that if there is discrepancy, there is valid claim, judge should evaluate.
(3) Sapkowski is a petty man. He's a 'hard leftists' that is a 'sexist'. He's 'a tough guy' with physique that would let 12 yo girl to beat the living shit out of him. He is rabid entrepreneur, that hates capitalism. He tries to be 'smart guy' but ends up making decisions that lose him tons of money. There are heaps of anecdotes about his overblown ego and you can probably just google and dig up few brow rising quotes about his own books, fans, video games, people etc.
IMO he is an ever unhappy man, that now became a bitter old, grumpy gramps, who his all live concentrated only on everything negative around him and every little depressing and 'unfair' thing said and done to him but ignored everything he had, achieved and created and all positive things that came his way (cautionary tale to the lot of you youngsters btw).
(4) Sapkowski is a brilliant writer. He had not created a lot but you should give a try 'Hussite Trilogy' at the very least. Not just the Witcher. Perhaps that's a lot due to his flaws and quirks and overall 'douche-baggery'. Perhaps he writes and puts on paper things he always fails to articulate interacting with people. Only thing that matters here is that you should separate evaluating man's character and his works/deeds.
Having said all that. Likely CDPR will settle with him. Not for that crazy pile of money but still. Judge in court is likely to destroy Sapkowski's case, even though he has 'valid' claim and 'humiliate' him. I doubt CDPR would like that for this 70yo, about to kick the bucket, goblin. So if he isn't going to be stupid about it - yet again - he'll get few millions out of it.
This. I'm not a Witcher fan, and even I want to smack the face off the smug bastard.Casual Shinji said:
I do feel he should receive a bit more for his contribution to the Witcher Games success, but by my understanding he was offered it earlier and still turned it down (???, who turns down free money?).
I imagine CD Projekt could just give the guy a million to save on legal fees, but would demand they get to make it public and Sapkowski would have a gag order against ribbing on CD Projekt indefinitely.
But judging by the measure of Sapkowski's character, he's probably after retroactive royalties and future royalties now.
I imagine CD Projekt could just give the guy a million to save on legal fees, but would demand they get to make it public and Sapkowski would have a gag order against ribbing on CD Projekt indefinitely.
But judging by the measure of Sapkowski's character, he's probably after retroactive royalties and future royalties now.
He was offered a part of the profit instead of a fixed sum and turned that down as he didn't believe in the success.Abomination said:
