Sapkowski demands CDPR pay him more

[rusty_shackleford]

https://www.cdprojekt.com/en/investors/regulatory-announcements/current-report-no-15-2018/

Current report no. 15/2018

October 2, 2018

Subject: Receipt of a demand for payment submitted on behalf of Mr. Andrzej Sapkowski

Legal basis: Art. 17 of the Market Abuse Regulation _MAR_ – inside information

The Management Board of CD PROJEKT S.A. with a registered office in Warsaw, Jagiellońska 74, hereby announces that on 1 October 2018 the Company received an official demand for payment filed by plenipotentiaries of Mr. Andrzej Sapkowski.

The notice indicates that Mr. Andrzej Sapkowski expects payment of additional royalties beyond what had been contractually agreed upon between himself and the Company. The contents of the notice are attached to this report.

In the Company’s opinion the demands expressed in the notice are groundless with regard to their merit as well as the stipulated amount. The Company had legitimately and legally acquired copyright to Mr. Andrzej Sapkowski’s work, i.a. insofar as is required for its use in games developed by the Company. All liabilities payable by the Company in association therewith have been properly discharged.

It is the Company’s will to maintain good relations with authors of works which have inspired CD PROJEKT RED’s own creations. Consequently, the Board will go to great lengths to ensure amicable resolution of this
dispute; however, any such resolution must be respectful of previously expressed intents of both parties, as well as existing contracts.

In the Company’s opinion receipt of the abovementioned demands meets the significance criterion due to the identity of the person submitting the demands.

Disclaimer:

This English language translation has been prepared solely for the convenience of English speaking readers. Despite all the efforts devoted to this translation, certain discrepancies, omissions or approximations may exist. In case of any differences between the Polish and the English versions, the Polish version shall prevail. CD PROJEKT, its representatives and employees decline all responsibility in this regard.

 

[Haba]

I guess the old drunk needs more booze money.

 

[The Great ThunThun*]

Reading Sapkowski's works always brings a smile to my lips. It is quite clear how he has no original ideas whatsoever but a definite skill in identifying great works written prior to his time (Catch 22, Tolstoy's works, 1984 etc.) and the clear sight of what is socially "relevant" (gender issues, bigotry, dogmatism etc.). He uses these works in a fantastic setting and targets the manchild audience prevalent today. If not for the games, no one would have even heard of him outside of Poland.

 

[gruntar]

He demands about 17 million USD (60 million pln). It's funny because without CDPR this franchise would be relatively worthless compared to today. Hope he gets nothing.

 

[Tytus]

If not for the games, no one would have even heard of him outside of Poland.

You do realize he already was big in countries like Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine before the games right?
The games propelled him into western markets, but he already had a success in the Eastern European/Slavic part of the world.

 

[Alex]

Maybe he meant greater Poland :D

 

[Tytus]

Maybe he meant greater Poland :D

WIELKA LECHIA!

 

[rusty_shackleford]

If not for the games, no one would have even heard of him outside of Poland.

You do realize he already was big in countries like Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine before the games right?
The games propelled him into western markets, but he already had a success in the Eastern European/Slavic part of the world.

...And they still sold like shit. Dmitri Glukhovsky already murdered this argument, don't rehash it.

 

[Hamster]

Maybe he meant greater Poland :D

You probably meant former Russian Empire.

 

[mondblut]

If not for the games, no one would have even heard of him outside of Poland.

Not true. In russia, his popularity rivaled Tolkien's from late 90s onwards.

 

[LESS T_T]

https://www.cdprojekt.com/en/investors/regulatory-announcements/current-report-no-15-2018/

The demand, translated by CDPR: https://www.cdprojekt.com/en/wp-con.../31450043_rb_15-2018_-_demand-for-payment.pdf

The gist, I think:

• Give us 60m pln, 6% of TW3 profits.
• The original contract only covers the first game, so your distribution of the sequels and spin-offs are unlawful.
• Considering the author and your company's reputations, we want to settle this amicably and so we have not publicized this fact.
• We know you want to buy all copyright from the author "actually and legitimately (!)", and the author is willing to discuss about that matter. The expeditious payment of the royalties will have a positive effect on that discussion. *wink* *wink*

 

[Hamster]

Why is there no happy merchant button?

 

[TemplarGR]

Well, i know most fangirls of Witcher 3 will attack Sapkowski for this move, but he does have a point. Witcher universe is after all, his fucking work. CDPR barely created new lore of their own, most of the fucking characters in the games are from the books, they just wrote fanfiction on top of them. Getting only 10k dollars out of such a profitable property while it is your fucking universe is disgusting. In my opinion, CDPR should have approached him first for a proper deal, but we all know they are terribly greedy, especially seeing how they treat their employees...

You can argue till kingdom come how his work is overrated, wouldn't be known outside of Slavic countries if not for the games, yada yada, this doesn't make him any less right in wanting some compensation, a part of the profit from his own fucking work.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Well, i know most fangirls of Witcher 3 will attack Sapkowski for this move, but he does have a point. Witcher universe is after all, his fucking work. CDPR barely created new lore of their own, most of the fucking characters in the games are from the books, they just wrote fanfiction on top of them. Getting only 10k dollars out of such a profitable property while it is your fucking universe is disgusting. In my opinion, CDPR should have approached him first for a proper deal, but we all know they are terribly greedy, especially seeing how they treat their employees...

You can argue to kingdom come how his work is overrated, wouldn't be known outside of Slavic countries if not for the games, yada yada, this doesn't make him any less right in wanting some compensation, a part of the profit from his own fucking work.

When did CDPR hold him at gunpoint and force him to license his IP to them for a lump sum?

 

[Life of the Party]

The original contract only covers the first game, so your distribution of the sequels and spin-offs are unlawful.

 

[Tytus]

Getting only 10k dollars out of such a profitable property while it is your fucking universe is disgusting.

He is proffiting from it in other areas. The Netflix deal and the spike in book sales happaned only becauce of Witcher 3.

CDPR also proposed him a deal where he would have a share in profits several times and he refused.
He said it himself publicly.
It's not like he was scammed out of his right and got nothing from it.

 

[TemplarGR]

When did CDPR hold him at gunpoint and force him to license his IP to them for a lump sum?

The real world, you will find out when you grow up, doesn't work that way. There are many factors involved and believe me, he does have a case, that is why he is going to court. Unless CDPR makes an out of court settlement, they will most likely LOSE the fight at court. The copyright owner's rights always win over the rights of those who licence said copyright. It is after all his work.

By the way the fact that he says he only licenced for 1 game is probably true. I find it hard to believe he knew at that time there would be a trilogy and multiple spinoffs.

 

[Grauken]

Where did you make your law degree, at the reddit internet university?

 

[Tytus]

By the way the fact that he says he only licenced for 1 game is probably true. I find it hard to believe he knew at that time there would be a trilogy and multiple spinoffs.

It might be. But why did he wait so long? He should've said something when Witcher 2 came out. But hey maybe all that sweet Netflix money finally made him afford drinking himself to death and hiring a good lawyer at the same time.

 

[TemplarGR]

He is proffiting from it in other areas. The Netflix deal and the spike in book sales happaned only becauce of Witcher 3.

CDPR also proposed him a deal where he would have a share in profits several times and he refused.
He said it himself publicly.
It's not like he was scammed out of his right and got nothing from it.

1) Indeed he is profiting in other areas. This doesn't exclude him from taking a share of the profits from the games... This is a very weak argument, it is like saying that Tolkien's family should NOT receive a share of the profits from the Lord of the rings and hobbit trilogies because their books saw increased sales... This is utterly moronic.

2) I didn't know about refusing such a deal. It is possible that the deal was much lower than what he could get through court, so he decided to go that route. In the end, CDPR WILL have to pay up, how much, we are going to see in the future.

 

[TemplarGR]

It might be. But why did he wait so long? He should've said something when Witcher 2 came out. But hey maybe all that sweet Netflix money finally made him affort drinking himself to death and hiring a good lawyer at the same time.

This might be true. He may have been so poor that he couldn't afford a proper lawyer to go after a big multinational corp. He may needed some time to prepare his case. This is not something uncommon. Poor people often can't afford to act fast and sometimes they can't afford to act at all. I have been scammed by Activision Blizzard who almost banned my Heroes of the Storm account on which i had invested tons of playtime and around 250 euros, based on ridiculous troll false "abusive chat" and "afk/nonparticipation" reports. They refused to listen through customer support. If i was able to get them to court, i would get my money back AND compensation on top of it, but i can't afford to go after them that way, both in money and time terms. So i simply let it slide. Sometimes life is not fair and you can't go after a corp. Why do you think this Sapkwowski guy was filthy rich and could afford a top lawyer firm?

 

[TemplarGR]

Actually, he does not have a case because the company can show that they *did* offer him a deal several times which he refused. He is blackmailing CDPR and he knows it. The thing is that CDPR will *most probably* agree with him and settle for a smaller sum, if only not to have a negative media image.

Just because someone "offered a deal" does not mean it was fair and does not mean that he had to accept it. If i visit your house, steal it from you by throwing you out through force, then offer you 10 dollar compensation to settle a deal for your house, does that make it a fair deal? Will I go to court to defend myself saying "well i did offer him 10$ dollar deal several times, he just refused". Would that fly?

Having offered a deal in the past is not a valid defence. He may refused because the deal was low, or because he wanted to appraise how much the deal would be worth before comitting. There is nothing wrong on Sapkwoski's part. You are just fangirling in favour of CDPR a little too much.

 

[Tytus]

2) I didn't know about refusing such a deal. It is possible that the deal was much lower than what he could get through court, so he decided to go that route. In the end, CDPR WILL have to pay up, how much, we are going to see in the future.

The Witcher author refused a profit-sharing deal with CD Projekt: 'It was stupid'


By Andy Chalk March 24, 2017

Andrzej Sapkowski wanted his money up-front.

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Most gamers know Geralt, The Witcher, as the lead character of CD Projekt's hit fantasy RPG series of the same name. But he actually originated in a series of short stories and novels written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, dating back to 1992. Sapkowski initially intended to write just one novel, he said in a lengthy and very entertaining interview with Eurogamer, but the acclaim it brought led him to make more, eventually resulting in the sprawling Witcher saga—and interest from videogame developers.

It was actually Adrian Chmielarz's first studio, Metropolis Software, who first approached Sapkowski about making a game based on the novels, but it was CD Projekt that ultimately got the job done. He said he didn't remember the details of the deal, but "they brought a big bag of money," and that was good enough for him. And since he didn't expect the project to amount to much, and believed that videogames, in a broad sense, "are stupid" anyway, he signed a cash-up-front deal and sent them on their way. After that, he had no contact with the studio, much less input on the game's development.

Despite Sapkowski's lack of faith, the game—and the trilogy—became a hit. (Remember when Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk gave US President Barack Obama a copy of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings to commemorate his visit to the country?) And the resulting shift of perceived creative ownership, outside of Poland, from the author to the game studio clearly irritates him: Recalling an incident when he was asked if the books are based on the games, he said, "I can remember my reaction: I know many bad words and I used all of them, in many languages."

But the real bite is that he can't even take solace from the obviously lucrative royalties, because there are none. "I was stupid enough to sell them rights to the whole bunch," Sapkowski said. "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."

To his credit, he doesn't begrudge CD Projekt its success, saying, "The game is made very well, and they merit of all of the beneficiaries they get from it." He'll even sign game boxes when asked, because Witcher fans are fans no matter how they came to it, and it would be "very impolite" to turn them away. (You probably still shouldn't ask him if that's where he got the idea for the books, though.) The whole interview is a lot of fun, even if you're not really a Witcher fan—and especially if you are. Catch it all at Eurogamer.

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."

To add to that CDPR also wanted to hire him as a consultant for the game when developing Witcher 1 - but he wrote them a really weird nasty letter basically offending them and saying no - which was turned into a letter that Azar Javed writes to the Profesor in Witcher 1. (if I recall correctly)

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I have been scammed by Activision Blizzard who almost banned my Heroes of the Storm account on which i had invested tons of playtime and around 250 euros, based on ridiculous troll false "abusive chat" and "afk/nonparticipation" reports. They refused to listen through customer support. If i was able to get them to court, i would get my money back AND compensation on top of it, but i can't afford to go after them that way, both in money and time terms.

court would probably hit you with a fine for playing such a shit game

 

[Tytus]

Just because someone "offered a deal" does not mean it was fair and does not mean that he had to accept it. If i visit your house, steal it from you by throwing you out through force, then offer you 10 dollar compensation to settle a deal for your house, does that make it a fair deal?

So now CDPR stole Witcher from Sapkowski? You do realize he didn't have to sell anything to them. Just because someone "offered a deal" does not mean you have to sell anything to them. Stop being retarded please.