The author and creator of the Witcher book series, Andrzej Sapkowski, still has beef with CD Projekt Red and their critically acclaimed Witcher game series, which is based on his books. Some time ago, he said he had no problem with the games but then admitted that selling the rights of the series to CDPR was a dumb move. Since then, Andrzej continues to insist that his books’ sales are affected by CDPR’s Witcher game series, and that it was his books that led to the games being so popular.
But Metro 2033 author Dmitry Glukhovsky does not agree with his fellow author. In a recent interview with Waypoint, the author, who’s books were the basis of the Metro games, did not hold back.
“I think that he’s totally wrong, and that he’s an arrogant motherf*cked.”
“Without the gaming franchise, the Witcher series would never get this crazy international readership that it has. And it’s not just about the gamers but the gaming press and the buzz it creates, and just the feeling of something great and massive and impressive coming out. This got people hooked. He would remain a local Eastern European phenomenon without this, but he would never break into the West. And the same goes for my Metro books.”
“It happened so that the game developers were among the first readers. The creative lead of 4A Games, Andrei Proharov, was sent a link to the website by some of his friends, and he read it overnight and thought it was a perfect story for their next game. I decided to use this oppurtunity to tell my own kind of story, and I was not at all judging video games as a danger to my precious property. Quite the contrary, I thought that it’s a great oppurtunity to promote the entire IP. And that was exactly the way it worked.”
“They did a great job. I think Metro 2033 is the world’s first lyrical, sentimental and philosophical 3D shooter.”
Glukhovsky’s statement brings a new twist to this bizarre conflict. Though we are uncertain why Glukhovsky would publicly speak out against his fellow author with such strong words, but it might be due to a generational gap – after all, Glukhovsky is 37, and was born during the gaming evolution era, while Sapkowski is much at older at 68.
What’s your take on this conflict? Let us know in the comments below!
