But what if Sapkowski himself were to write all of it? What if he was to head up the adaptations of his original material, whatever the destination for them?"If you claim you can do everything, you can't do anything," is his answer.The principle of sticking to his strengths and the time constraints of working on the Witcher books contributed to Sapkowski's refusal to originally collaborate with CD Projekt RED, when they began work on what would become 2007's original game. But there's more to it—he simply doesn't consider video games to be a medium capable of good storytelling."Where's the room for depth or sophisticated language with which games could elevate culture? There's none." — Andrzej Sapkowski
And yet his relationship with CD Projekt RED clearly degraded over the years. So what exactly went wrong along the way?"I have nothing against the game itself. I think it's a high-level product. All the benefits CDPR received for it are absolutely well-earned. I have nothing against video games in general. I have nothing against the people who play them, even if I don't and never will," Sapkowski says. "The whole animosity started when the game began to spoil my market.""I wrote the first Witcher story 30 years ago," he continues. "When I come to my author meetings, there's no one in the audience close to my age. I am 69. There's no one. Kids everywhere. How are some of them supposed to know—especially in Germany, Spain or the US—that my books are not game related? That I'm not writing books based on games? They may not know that, and CDPR bravely conceals the game's origins. It's written in fine print, you need a microscope to see it, that the game is 'based on' [my books].""CDPR bravely conceals the game's origins. It's written in fine print, you need a microscope to see it, that the game is 'based on' [my books]." — Andrzej Sapkowski
CDPR's faults don't end there, claims the author."The belief, widely spread by CDPR, that the games made me popular outside of Poland is completely false. I made the games popular. All of my translations in the West—including the English one—were published before the first game."Related, on Waypoint: Saying Goodbye to Our Geralts at the End of 'The Witcher 3'
Glukhovsky—a fan of classic Fallout games and S.T.A.L.K.E.R., with which 4A Games leant a helping hand—didn't need much convincing to give the project his blessing. "I decided to use this opportunity 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 opportunity to promote the entire IP. And that was exactly the way it worked."Glukhovsky's approach to inviting the creative input of others shows outside of his partnership with 4A Games as well. Parallel to the Metro stories written by Glukhovsky, an official trilogy of them, runs a franchise of dozens of books set in his post-apocalyptic universe. All written by "readers who are welcome to become contributors," as Glukhovsky himself calls them."If you're working with talented people, just give them the freedom of creation to interpret your story." — Dmitry Glukhovsky
"I make sure that every character you encounter has something that every human has: feelings," Glukhovsky stresses. "And feelings are what we relate to. And feelings are important for us to believe in a character. And this is a very important thing that gaming can learn from literature."But the Russian scribe is far from dismissing games as a medium for telling stories. "I'm already part of the generation that has not judged video games as poor entertainment. It can easily be a piece of art, depending on who's creating it, what his talent is. It can be utter trash and it can also be a piece of art."And while Sapkowski doesn't share Glukhovsky's sentiment, and despite his obvious dissatisfaction with his visibility in relation to CDPR's Witcher series, he's not one to regret having his life's work turned into a video game."If I don't sell the rights to an adaptation, I may not afford rent." The Pole takes a sip of his Staropramen. "Not to mention beer.""I'm already part of the generation that has not judged video games as poor entertainment." — Dmitry Glukhovsky