School trains 3,117 Witcher, now has to close – Apparently because of a woman

There is a school in Poland that has been training witchers such as Geralt von Rivia, the Witcher, in live role-playing games since 2015. That happened for 7 years with a license from CD Projekt Red. But that’s over now. The reason for losing the license is apparently the connection of a woman close to the school to a Polish think tank with radical political views.

That was the idea of ​​the school:

• The idea of ​​the school was for people to go there and have a fully immersive experience, as if they were going to a school where they are being trained to become Witchers.
• The school advertised that the experience was like being in a movie, except that you could influence what happened. They even guaranteed “real emotions” (via witcher school)
• A day at the school included lessons, archery lessons or sword fighting lessons and of course the all-important monster lore.

School has to close – loses license

This is what the school says: In a Facebook post from the Witcher School, one says (via fb):

“It’s been 7 wonderful years, 40 organized editions, many hundreds of participants worked on the event, 3,117 trained witchers from 54 countries took part and at least 2,841 monsters were slaughtered.”

You started fighting with sticks as children and never expected that your own Witcher school would come of it.

The post sounds like a farewell because it is: because CD Projekt Red has revoked the license of the company behind the school.

Company Believes False Reports At fault – Blown things up

Why is this ending now?? According to a statement from the company (via FB), the license was lost because the wife of one of the company’s co-founders worked as a lawyer to write a license agreement with CD Projekt Red.

The woman has also worked as a lawyer for various organizations, including “Ordo Luris,” an “association with right-wing and Catholic views,” as the Witcher school describes it.

In March 2022, an article appeared claiming the woman worked for the Witcher school and for Ordo Lurids (which is not true, the woman hadn’t worked for the Witcher school since 2019), but at the time one had lost the license to play the witcher.

They wanted to clarify that with CD Projekt Red, but an agreement was reached. The Witcher school itself does not want to interfere in the private affairs of employees.

CD Projekt Red says: No comment

What does CD Project Red say? A statement to Eurogamer states that the cooperation ended in February, and that the deadline had expired three months later. I don’t want to comment further on the matter.

Founder’s wife worked for think tank fighting against abortion and LGBTQ+ rights

What’s the problem now? What the Witcher school calls an organization with “Catholic views,” Ordo Lurdis, is a controversial think tank that has built a reputation as an anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ+ rights, and anti-divorce organization.

Apparently CD Projekt Red, who are themselves in the crosshairs of the public, didn’t want any connection to such an organization – even if it is tenuous. The school also emphasizes in its statements that this is just one of hundreds of employees and that it has had nothing to do with the school for years.

The school apparently believes that press articles that made this connection have already calculated to lead to the closure now.

The Witcher studio, CD Projekt Red, is struggling with a few problems of its own:

Witcher 4 is looking for new employees – but the boss is confronted with the dark past