The Witcher author says he's never played the games that cemented his fame: "I have no time for this, and it's not entertainment for me"

Nov. 22, 2023

Andrezj Sapkowski is no gamer

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The author of The Witcher novels says he’s never played the games, and has no intention to do so.

In an interview during Vienna Comic Con, The Witcher author Andrzej Sapkowski discussed his writing process, offered information about thenew Witcher book he’s working on, and said that he tends to find visual reproductions of his work “strange.” At the end of the interview, conversation briefly turned to video games, but Sapkowski made it clear that he’s never played the games that helped turn his work into a global phenomenon.

Asked simply if he’d ever really played video games, Sapkowski replied in no uncertain terms: “Never. I have no time for this, and it’s not entertainment for me. No. No, not since they appear on the market first […] I never played it, never. And I do not intend to play it.”

That’s pretty damning, but I kind of see where Sapkowski’s coming from. During the interview he describes himself as an avid reader, and also talks about the work he has to do to bring his books to life verbally, rather than visually. That seems to tie into his somewhat frosty reception of The Witcher Netflix series, for instance, which he doesn’t seem to actively dislike, but suggests that he found himself surprised by, particularly when it came to the design decisions that the producers made. In a similar vein, not everyone finds games a relaxing, fulfilling experience, and if Sapkowski’s firmly in that camp, I can see him being reluctant to pour the dozens of hours required into completing The Witcher 3.

Here’s everything we know so far aboutThe Witcher 4 Polaris, which Sapkowski will probably also not play.

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I’m GamesRadar’s news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I’ve run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam’s latest indie hit.

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