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In today's video, we’ll be exploring the world of fantasy fiction, as well as some of its multi-million-dollar spin-offs in video games and TV.
surely you can’t have helped noticing all the hype around Netflix’s latest show featuring monsters and magic, the Witcher.
And if you’re a gamer, you’ll be familiar with the hugely popular series of video games that go by the same name.
But you’re a little likely less likely to have read the books – or you might not even know that they exist.
So in today’s video, we’ve decided to fill in the blanks in the intriguing real-life story behind the Witcher, and how a little-known novel inspired a global phenomenon.
Aluxers, there are no prizes for guessing that this story doesn’t take place in a fantasy universe, but in the real world.
But it beings in a setting that you might find hard to guess - 1980s Poland, during the country’s last few years under communist rule.
And the main character’s name is Andrzej Sapkowski - at the time, a 38-year-old traveling salesman, as well as was a huge fan of fantasy fiction.
So when a Polish fantasy and science fiction magazine launched a story-writing competition, he decided to give it a go,
basing his story loosely on a Polish folk tale about a shoe-maker who slays a dragon.
Except the shoe-maker was upgraded to a professional monster hunter with supernatural powers,
and all-round bad-ass-meets knight in shining armor - Geralt of Rivia.
And he removed the dragon from the story, but introduced a detailed medieval fantasy world
filled with elves, dwarfs, sorcery, and plenty of monsters lurking in the shadows.
Sapkowski won third place in the competition, but much more importantly, the story soon gained a large following in Poland,
with readers demanding more stories; and in little over a decade, Sapkowski had written an entire five novel-saga.
Before long, Polish fans could also enjoy a series of comic books, and even a locally-produced movie and TV series all based on Sapkowski’s characters.
But with its fanbase limited to Poland, this leads us to the question – how did the Witcher reach an international audience?
And this is where tech companies and the world of gaming make an entrance.
By the early 2000s, with Sapkowski’s novels now being very well-known in Poland, the country also had a tech industry that was ready to take off.
And it wasn’t long before local gaming studios saw the potential in developing the Witcher into a video game.
In 2003, Warsaw-based developers DC Projekt Red approached Sapkowski, with exactly this in mind.
Now, if you’d been on the gaming scene in Poland in 2003, you may have thought the idea had potential
but it’s unlikely that you would have predicted just how huge it would have become.
And there was one person who was especially skeptical – and that was Sapkowski himself,
partly because, to put it lightly he’s never been a fan of video games.
So when CD Projekt offered him a cut of the royalties, he declined, insisting that they pay him a one-off sum,
which turned out to be just under $10,000.
Aluxers, if you know anything about the world of gaming you’ll know more or less what happened next
but any non-gamers among you may have a some burning questions, which we can answer here pretty quickly.
Did the Witcher break out beyond the Polish market to international success?
Yes – on a spectacular scale.
And did Sapkowski regret his decision not to take royalties as payment?
Also a resounding yes – but more about that later.
The first Witcher game, released in 2007, created a buzz right from its release, with positive reviews;
and while a bit of a slow burner, it didn’t take that long to become a huge commercial success.
It’s follow-up, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings upped the game in both reviews and sales.
But it was the third Witcher game that really stole the show.
Released in 2015, Witcher 3: Wild Huntsold 4 million copies in the first two weeks after release
and was given the title Game of the Year by numerous gaming sites and magazines.
Between them, the three Witcher games have sold more than 40 million copies and have grossed $250 million.
More than half of these sales were for the game-changing Witcher 3,
which is considered to be one of the best video games of all time.
Not at all bad for something that started out as an entry in a story-writing competition.
So what’s so special about the Witcher games?
While their graphics and combat scenes have been singles out as plusses,
their real selling point is the level of detail and dark fantasy world that the player becomes immersed in and is invited to explore;
as well as asking gamers to make choices in which there’s a blurry line between good and evil,
and even minor decisions have consequences further down the line.
And it’s unlikely that this amount have detail could have been created without the inspiration of Sapowski’s source material.
Bringing the Witcher to a new global audience of gamers has had all kinds of knock-on effects.
First of all, the huge audience of the video-games allowed publishers to market the books on a scale that wouldn’t have been possible before.
When the first video game was released in 2007, none of the books had been translated into English
but nowadays, they’re published in 20 languages, with sales of over 30 million copies,
as gamers all over the world are keen to explore the Witcher universe in more depth.
And of course, the Netflix series, beginning on December 20this bound to bring the Witcher to an even wider audience, with some tipping the series to be next GoT.
And having Hollywood A-lister and Superman actor, Henry Cavill in the lead role of Geralt definitely can’t hurt its chances.
In fact, Cavill has said that he’s been a huge Witcher fan for a long time, having played all the games and read all the books.
As Cavill puts it, ‘It was an absolute honor to play Geralt because he lives very close to my heart’.
And needless to say, we haven’t heard the last of the video games, as there’s a fourth one in the making,
although we’ll probably still have to wait a few years for it, with no release date announced yet.
Well, all things considered, Andrzej Sapowski he hasn’t done that badly.
The royalties from 30 million books sales have made him a very nice pile of cash.
And he can add onto this more royalties and consultancy fees from Netflix.
Since the series takes its main inspiration from the books, not the video games, the author worked as a consultant in the early stages of writing.
With a second season already announced, he can be sure that these will keep on rolling in for some time to come.
And it goes without saying that the book sales and Netflix series owe themselves entirely to the success of the video games,
which introduced the Witcher to the wider world.
But this still brings us back to Sapkowski’s decision in 2003 to accept a one-off payment;
and to say that he’s been kicking himself would be a massive understatement.
Considering the fact he took a one-off payment of $10,000 for a series of games that have since made 250 million dollars,
I think any of us would be doing the same.
And it was this frustration that lay behind his decision to file a lawsuit against Projekt Red in 2018,
demanding royalties of $16 million trom them, as he claimed that the agreement only covered the first game.
The dispute was settled out of court, with Projekt Red giving Sapkowski an undisclosed sum.
This was almost certainly less than what he’d asked for, but enough to allow for an amicable working relationship on future Witcher video games.
And finally, what does Sapowski actually think of the video games?
Truth be told, we can’t say he’s a huge fan.
Aside from the lawsuit, he’s repeatedly said in interviews that he dislikes video games, even stating that he has no interest in killing Martians on a screen,
and that he’d much rather play cards or drink vodka.
But if you happen to be a fan of the games, and end up in the unlikely situation of getting into a conversation with the creator of the Witcher universe,
what do you say to him?
Aluxers, we can tell you what not to say – whatever you do, be sure not to congratulate him on his great book adaptations of the Witcher games.
We can tell you this because apparently he gets asked this a lot; yes, he’s tired of explaining that it was the books that came first;
and no he doesn’t respond politely to it.
But, to be fair, he also says that if fans ask him to sign a copy of a video game he’s happy to do this, as he still appreciates Witcher fans.
And while he definitely isn’t a gamer, he has admitted that the games are very well made.
The story of how the Witcher went from a short story in a competition to a globally known phenomenon with video game and TV spin-offs can tell us a few things.
Firstly, whatever ideas you have, be open to suggestions for them to be adapted, just as Sapkowski agreed to have his books made into video games
even if the ideas aren’t that appealing to you personally, there could be a huge market waiting for them.
And secondly, think hard before you sign away your rights to those royalties.
And finally, the Witcher reminds us just how much we’re all drawn to fantasy, whether it comes in the format of a TV series, a video game, or in print.
With Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’ just released onto our screens, only time will tell whether it will join the likes of Star Wars, Marvel or DC, or the Lord of the Rings,
Harry Potter or Game of Thrones as screen favorites set in magical universes too.
But the success of these franchises and huge fan-base of the Witcher games and books are a reminder that every now
and again we all need to escape just for a while into a fantasy world.
Now Aluxers, we're curious:
Let us know in the comments.
And, of course, for sticking with us this long.. here's the bonus you're waiting for.
Given the worldwide success of the Witcher, it won’t come as a surprise that in its native Poland the Witcher is a huge source of pride.
As well as the stories and video games being home-grown products, the Witcher even takes its inspiration from Polish folklore.
And when Barack Obama made an official visit to Poland in 2011, Polish the Prime Minister at the time, Donald Tusk,
gifted the American president with a copy of the Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings game.
While he admitted he wasn’t much of a gamer, Obama did praise the Witcher games as ‚a great example of Poland’s place in the new global economy,
and a tribute to the talents and work ethic of the Polish people.
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