The Witcher Creator BLASTS Video Games

I personally knew the games were based off of books but wouldn't have bought any of them until I watched and later played through the series since I thought I wouldn't get the setting but the games have painted a great world which to envision what happens in the books with something you can reference to.

I love the Witcher books, I love reading, I am a fan of the fantasy genre, and in college I studied Central and Eastern European history and culture (primarily Prussia, but Poland is a big part of German history). I had never heard of the Witcher books prior to playing the games, and I do not know a single person who read the books before playing the games. 

I love the books, and I believe they are extremely important to understanding the games, but the author is wrong. 

I guess I'm not getting the books like I'd eventually planned. I always heard Andrzej wasn't a huge fan of the video games, but this is just straight up fucking arrogant and egotistical. I never would have known his book series existed had it not been for the Witcher 3 and its subreddit. Someone set him fucking straight his book maybe good, but they are obviously not as good as he claims.

I started on the first  Wticher game, couldn't get past the difficult control scheme on PC but loved the world and found that they were based on the books which were then translated (and still being officially translated) and fell in love with the books, the world, and then the games. Overall, everything fitting together made me fall in love with Geralt and the world of the Wticher.

It is always about the money.

While I do agree with most aspects presented here, there's one thing I feel was misinterpreted: the translations of the books.

While you do make a point that they weren't translated in English before any of CDPR's games launched, some, if not all the books were translated into other languages and were successful as far as books can be.

Let's take The Last Wish as an example here, as it's chronologically the first book of the series and it's usually the first one translated. According to the Witcher Official Wikia, it was translated in 6 other languages before 2006:

• Czech: Poslední přání, (Leonardo, 1999)

• German: Der letzte Wunsch, (Heyne, 1998)

• Spanish: El último deseo, translated by Jose María Faraldo (Bibliópolis fantástica, 2002)

• French: Le Dernier Vœu, (Bragelonne, 2003)

• Lithuanian: Paskutinis noras, (Eridanas, 2005)

• Russian: Последнее желание, translated by Евгений Вайсброт (АСТ, 1996)

As you can see, this list includes some of the largest countries by area (geographical size) and population, namely Russia, France, Spain and Germany.

While it's true that the books were translated into many more languages because of the success of the games and subsequently more widespread interest in the books, you're suggesting that the games are the only reason the books were translated at all, which I feel is a bit of an exaggeration.

About the rest of the video and the subject, I'll say only one thing about it: It's evident that Sapkowski doesn't want to be bothered by this, and provoking him results in hyperbolic statements such as these. I reached this conclusion based on my experience knowing people of his age and (approximate) background (i.e. living through 20th century communism, his former profession, etc.).

I would never have known about the books if not for the Witcher games, and it wasn't fine text, it clearly is marked on the packaging "based on books by so and so"