The Witcher author Andrzej Sapkowski has a strained history with CD Projekt Red, developer of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and other video game adaptations of his book series, and the writer has shared plenty of controversial opinions about video games in the past. The video game series reached peak popularity with The Witcher 3, which is widely regarded as one of the best RPGs of all time.
After a long dispute over licensing concerns, Sapkowski recently reached a new will never happen, this deal gives the publisher the opportunity to continue producing other Witcher-related products. The popular Netflix series, however, is unrelated to CD Projekt Red's games, instead being based on the books directly.
Sapkowski had to negotiate this deal with CD Projekt Red because he was too "stupid," he said, to believe the games could amount to anything when the developer first approached him. In an interview with Eurogamer, Sapkowski said CD Projekt Red initially offered him a percentage of The Witcher games' profits, but he refused, instead preferring a lump sum up front. He thought there would be no profits and expected nothing more out of the adaptation than "a big bag of money."
Sapkowski has since acknowledged CD Projekt Red's success and the quality of its games. Still, Sapkowski told Netflix series' Geralt, Henry Cavill, said on Jimmy Kimmel Live he didn't know The Witcher was a book series until after he met the show's creators.
Sapkowski does not play games himself, but he knew he wasn't qualified to write one when CD Projekt Red asked him to collaborate on the original Witcher game. He told Waypoint his refusal to contribute was partially due to his belief that, "If you claim you can do everything, you can't do anything," but Sapkowski also just doesn't think video games can tell good stories.
"How much substance can there be in the lines of text when the hero walks through the woods and talks to a squirrel? Where's the literature in that? Where's the room for depth or sophisticated language with which games could elevate culture? There's none."
In short, Sapkowski acknowledges that the games are "a high-level product" (even if he hasn't actually played them), but has a low opinion of video games as a storytelling medium. He also has a troubled relationship with CD Projekt Red, due to the earlier legal dispute and the games' lack of credit for the source material. Still, even if he has no particular love for the games, he seems happy to let them exist in their own world as an adaptation of his work.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt released on Xbox One, PS4, and PC in May 2015, and came to Nintendo Switch in October 2019.
