CD Projekt Red Pulls License From Real-Life Witcher School
The makers of The Witcher games have ended a licensing deal with a company that ran a real-life Witcher school in Poland. Earlier this week, the Polish company 5 Elements announced that it was shutting down its "Witcher School" LARP program after seven years, due to CD Projekt Red pulling the company's license to operate a Witcher-affiliated program. The Witcher School allowed for participants to "become" a Witcher for a weekend, learning everything from swordplay to have to craft various potions and use magic from the popular fantasy franchise.
5 Elements claimed in a Facebook post that its license was pulled after Polish media reported on the ties between the company and lawyer Anna Wawrzyniak. Wawrzyniak is the wife of 5 Elements founder Dastin Wawrzyniak and worked for the company between 2017-2019. More recently, Anna Wawrzyniak worked for Ordo Iuris, a right-wing Catholic organization, on "the legal mechanisms for introducing and enforcing the vaccination obligation and the possible consequences of failure to comply with it", and "the draft of a law penalising illegal abortion." When 5 Elements reached out to CD Projekt Red to clarify Wawrzyniak's relationship with the company, 5 Elements claims that CD Projekt Red pulled the license entirely.
When Eurogamer reached out to CD Projekt Red for a comment, they received the following reponse: "In February we decided to end our cooperation with the organisers of Witcher School," CD Projekt Red stated, "and now the contractual notice period of three months has ended. For more context, this cooperation was about the LARP itself, and potential merchandise tied to it. We do not provide further details on the matter."
5 Elements told customers on its Facebook page that the company could go bankrupt without the Witcher license and that it was currently developing an original fantasy world to build a new LARP experience around.
CD Projekt Red is currently developing a new Witcher game and is also releasing next-gen versions of The Witcher 3 later this year. Filming is also continuing on a new season of Netflix's The Witcher, which has become one of the streaming platform's most-watched series.