Witcher Novelist Demanding $16M in Royalties from CD Projekt Red - MMORPG.com

SBFord

Witcher Novelist Demanding $16M in Royalties from CD Projekt Red - MMORPG.com

Andrezj Sapkowski, author of the eight book Witcher novel series, has sent an "official demand" to CD Projekt Red for an additional $16M USD in royalties that would be added to payments he has already collected. Sapkowski originally made a deal with CDPR in the early 2000s to sell the rights to The Witcher. "The compensation remitted to the author is too low given the benefits obtained in association with the use of the author's work". The 'demand' is for 6% "of the profits obtained'.

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Whiteshade92

He signed a contract and agreed to X amount of money in first place. So no you can't ditch for more.

[Deleted User]

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Renoaku

LOL I don't get it if you sell your Intellectual Property & All rights to another person or company, doesn't all the rights go away to that said company unless otherwise stated as a Lease to use such works?

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venatis

If he felt like the contract only covered one game why didn't he speak up sooner?

RolanStorm

Condescending prick. I remember him trying to state that games got popular due to popularity of his novels. It was after 1st game was out.

No, that's other way around whether he likes it or not. 'Witcher' was known to those who were interested in that kind of literature - and that's it. I read it a long time ago in my student days and never understood fans of those books. They are good, but that's it. Not spectacular (and games are). Watching that interview I thought those fantasy-fandom types are always sleazy. And here we go. *spits*

kanechart

venatis said:

If he felt like the contract only covered one game why didn't he speak up sooner?

He clearly only was told how well it did now

Shinobe

A contract made 2000, i think he deserves a raise after 18 years.

Erinak1

Why now? Is he going bankrupt or something? It really does seem like he only just found out how popular the games were. At the very least I imagine the judge will want to know why he is suing now, 3 years after the release of the third game and not when the second one was announced.

Scot

I agree with Rolan that the books although good were made as successful as they are by the games. There are many good fantasy novels out there which are not noticed due to lack of highlighting in the publics attention.

There is a balance to be reached here and from what Blue Turtle said I would say no more then 5% is fair, when you weigh up such things we need into account the effect on the company as much as the man.

MadFrenchie

Shinobe said:

A contract made 2000, i think he deserves a raise after 18 years.

Eh, after 18 years, if we're being honest, he isn't nearly the biggest reason his IP is so popular.

Interesting exercise in philosophy.  How much is an IP creator entitled to when another entity does the majority of the work to popularize it?

SBFord

This road all started over a year ago:

https://www.mmorpg.com/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/news/book-author-had-no-faith-in-game-success-1000043697

EuroGamer has an interesting interview with Andrzej Sapkowski, the author of the Witcher books. In the early 2000s Sapkowski made a deal with CD Projekt RED's co-founder Marcin Iwinski. The company could use his world and characters, but should write a completely original story. Sapkowski was offered a portion of profits from any games created from his IP, including the latest The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Gwent, which he turned down in favor of an immediate cash flow.

"I was stupid enough to sell them rights to the whole bunch," he says. "They offered me a percentage of their profits. I said, 'No, there will be no profit at all - give me all my money right now! The whole amount.' It was stupid. I was stupid enough to leave everything in their hands because I didn't believe in their success. But who could foresee their success? I couldn't."

If you are interested in more information about Sapkowski's background as a writer and his future plans for the Witcher franchise, you can head over to EuroGamer. 

*************************

That "I didn't believe in their success" and the demand for cash right at the moment may sink his ship. 

Khegobier

I'm contractually selling the rights to X for Y. I decide at some point later that X is worth more, so I'm going to demand Y+Z.

Unless it's stated somewhere in the contract that the rights to X are not perpetual, may be renegotiated in the future, or are not exclusive I'm screwed because I legally no longer have any claim as I have sold said rights to the other party. (edited for train of thought derail)

Sandmanjw

blueturtle13 said:

Pay the man

Was he paid and happy when the contract was signed? Before the games made all the cash?

If so then he is out of luck. Can not do the law with a crystal ball. Can not make a contract and then say oh wait you made too much money give me more...what if they had made nothing? Would he owe a refund?

Nah..same thing ...no crystal ball allowed, he was paid what he negotiated...and was happy with the deal at the time it was signed, or he could of said no. Unless the contract was limited...he is out of luck.

Wellspring

So if he was offered a percentage of their profits, but turned it down, how can he now ask for more? Would be helpful if they released the agreement he signed, so we can see if the original agreement covered the first game only or not. 

Mazeneal

Look, I get it, but f&^% off man, FFS.....you insulted them by thinking it wasn't going to go anywhere....I mean, I am sure they appreciated the amount they had to pay.....I think it would be good of them to throw him like 5 mil because they were trying to pay homage to his work....but to sue.....it just shows AGAIN who he is.../shrug

Erinak1

Khegobier said:

I'm contractually selling the rights to X for Y. I decide at some point later that X is worth more, so I'm going to demand Y+Z.



Unless it's stated somewhere in the contract that the rights to X are not perpetual, may be renegotiated in the future, or are not exclusive I'm screwed because I legally no longer have any claim as I have sold said rights to the other party.

(edited for train of thought derail)

It think it will come down to whether he sold the rights, or rented his IP through a license. If he sold the rights, I doubt he will see anything. The fact he took a one time payment sort of points to this fact.

WalkinGlenn

I never even knew the Witcher was based off of books. Neber herd of them. The author sounds kinda douchey so fuck him. He sold the rights off.

TheDarkrayne

The guy lacked confidence in the game. He had the option to take a percentage and decided to have a one off payment instead.

That's his problem. No backtracking allowed.

ohioastro

If they want his co-operation on any future things in the Witcher universe they will need to cut a deal with him.  That's his leverage, and that's likely why he'll get something more.

k61977

Personally I hate people like him. He made an agreement for how much he is already getting. It shows he didn't have fate the project was going to bring in what it did from the start, but since it did very well now he thinks he should get a bigger piece of the pie. Hope he doesn't get a single dime extra out of this and ends up spending every penny he gets trying to. A contract is a contract, don't sign it if you don't believe in something or think you are getting to little from the start. There are many people that regret signing away rights in the long run but that is part of business. His judgement was faulty on the value of the IP that is on him not the company that has profited because of it.

Seelinnikoi

Oh this reminds me of the movie "City of God"

As you know, that movie was a big hit and it is considered one of the best movies of all times with 66 awards, 38 nominations and a couple oscar things going on.

Anyways, the "actors" in the movie were all real people from the slums in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and when the producers aproached them, they asked them if they wanted some cash right now or when the movie releases, a percentage of the proceedings...

Well, almost ALL of them (being poor as they were) accepted the cash right there and then, and the most that one got was 10,000 reais, which is like maybe 2.5k USD. But that was the main dude, the other ones got around 1k to 2k USD.

The movie went on to make more than 33 million USD and even though the producers gave them some more money, it was nowhere near what they could have made, had they chose to accept the percentage.

This is very similar to the Witchers game issue, the people wanted fast cash (who could blame them, they didnt know any forecast of earnings) but then when their work made a huge success, the reality sinked in and they all wished they could have chosen differently.

SBFord

For those who want to dig through it, here's the Wikipedia page on Polish Copyright laws on which Sapkowski is making his stance.

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Polish_Copyright_Law

Sovrath

DMKano said:

blueturtle13 said:

Renoaku said:

LOL I don't get it if you sell your Intellectual Property & All rights to another person or company, doesn't all the rights go away to that said company unless otherwise stated as a Lease to use such works?

First he was paid 3% when the industry standard is 5% to 15% He is asking for 6% = Fair

Two, the contract signed implies the first in the series of games. Not TW2 or TW3.

It is very common to renegotiate contracts if said contract results in an IP ballooning in profits more so beyond what the original contract stated.

Third, do not mistake your IP and copyright laws with those of another country's.

He will get his money and he deserves it.

100% this

So many people here dont know enough about how it works to make an intelligent comment sadly

Well, according to the previously posted quote, he sold it all.

Look, I'm the first person to be on the side of the creator of any property.

But if he actually sold all his rights then he "sold all his rights."

And yes, it's true that each country has different copyright laws so if Poland (right? I think it's poland) says he can ask for more money then "great!" good for him.

But if that's not the case then screw him. He sold off his own work because he wanted money NOW!

I'll tell you right now, there's no way in hell I would ever sell off my rights to anything I created.

Iselin

DMKano said:

blueturtle13 said:

Renoaku said:

LOL I don't get it if you sell your Intellectual Property & All rights to another person or company, doesn't all the rights go away to that said company unless otherwise stated as a Lease to use such works?

First he was paid 3% when the industry standard is 5% to 15% He is asking for 6% = Fair

Two, the contract signed implies the first in the series of games. Not TW2 or TW3.

It is very common to renegotiate contracts if said contract results in an IP ballooning in profits more so beyond what the original contract stated.

Third, do not mistake your IP and copyright laws with those of another country's.

He will get his money and he deserves it.

100% this

So many people here dont know enough about how it works to make an intelligent comment sadly

You and Blue have some expertise in Polish contract law?

SBFord said:

This road all started over a year ago:

https://www.mmorpg.com/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/news/book-author-had-no-faith-in-game-success-1000043697

EuroGamer has an interesting interview with Andrzej Sapkowski, the author of the Witcher books. In the early 2000s Sapkowski made a deal with CD Projekt RED's co-founder Marcin Iwinski. The company could use his world and characters, but should write a completely original story. Sapkowski was offered a portion of profits from any games created from his IP, including the latest The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Gwent, which he turned down in favor of an immediate cash flow.

"I was stupid enough to sell them rights to the whole bunch," he says. "They offered me a percentage of their profits. I said, 'No, there will be no profit at all - give me all my money right now! The whole amount.' It was stupid. I was stupid enough to leave everything in their hands because I didn't believe in their success. But who could foresee their success? I couldn't."

If you are interested in more information about Sapkowski's background as a writer and his future plans for the Witcher franchise, you can head over to EuroGamer. 

*************************

That "I didn't believe in their success" and the demand for cash right at the moment may sink his ship. 

Agreed.

I read that a while back and it reminded me of the infamous Canadian case of the Tim Horton's doughnut and fast food franchise where the widow of the hockey player the chain is named after took a $1 Mil cash out payment for the rights of what eventually became a multi billion dollar company.

Yeah it sucks to be them but the transaction was perfectly legal.