The Witcher Interview
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Madej: The initial idea was to create a fantasy RPG based on a known franchise. We started talking to Interplay about making a PC port of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, and after some time and some problems, we started looking for something else.Imagine a Dark Alliance PC port instead of the Witcher. Bleh.
We realised Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher saga would be great. First of all, he's our own Polish writer and because he has a new vision of fantasy his work was fantastic to turn into a game. It was inspiring, it was unique, it was fresh, and while we had to translate the IP to other territories and that would be a challenge, we knew it would be a success.
In Poland, Russia and the Czech Republic, people are crazy about his work. I believe he's as popular as Tolkien, or even more so. Everyone went crazy about the game when it was released. In these countries it's not just a game - it's more like a cultural event. We had mainstream newspapers writing about it, it was on TV, everywhere. He's the most popular Polish writer today - and not just in fantasy writing - he's just the best Polish writer.