CD Projekt to offer additional payment to The Witcher author Andrzej Sapkowski - report
CD Projekt Red has agreed to pay a additional, undisclosed amount to The Witcher author, Andrzej Sapkowski.
According to a report from Polish newspaper Puls Biznesu, the additional payment to Sapkowski is in "recognition" for his The Witcher novels. The agreement was also made in order to maintain a "healthy relationship" with the author, per a Wccftech translation.
A monetary figure wasn't provided in the initial report, but it's assumed the check Sapkowski received is much less than the $16.1 million he was asking back in October.
CDP paid the equivalent of $9,350 for the rights back in the day, which it said covered licensing and rights to develop future titles. Sapkowski and his legal team disagreed, stating the original agreement was for the rights to develop a videogame based only on the first novel; therefore, he was owed royalties for The Witcher 2, The Witcher 3 and expansions.
The author previously said he accepted the initial fee from the developer because it "brought a big bag of money" to the negotiating table. He also refused to accept a percentage of the profits, because he was sure the game would be a failure.
"I was stupid enough to sell them rights to the whole bunch," he told Eurogamer back in 2017. "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."
He also said in a separate interview around the same time The Witcher games had lost him book sales.
Hopefully, the additional compensation was enough to please both parties, and both can get back to doing what they do best.