Moody cosmic horror game The Sinking City is now back up on Steam and other digital storefronts following the latest developments in an ongoing legal fight between developer Frogwares and the game’s publishing partner, Nacon, taking place in the Paris Court of Appeal.
The Sinking City, an excellent open world mystery game about exploring a flooded New England town during the 1920s, was originally released in June 2019, but was pulled from most digital storefronts last August by maker Frogwares over accusations that Nacon had failed to uphold its end of the publishing agreement. In a statement yesterday, Nacon — the publisher of games such as Warhammer: Chaosbane and the World Rally Championship series — announced it was bringing The Sinking City back to the Microsoft, PlayStation, and Steam digital storefronts following a court ruling from October upholding its existing publishing contract with Frogwares until a final legal decision was reached.
[referenced id=”1009295″ url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/08/sinking-city-developer-says-game-was-pulled-from-stores-because-publisher-stopped-paying-royalties/” thumb=”https://www.gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/08/26/jr9822z6wmdi24iplgso-300×169.png” title=”Sinking City Developer Says Game Was Pulled From Stores Because Publisher Stopped Paying Royalties” excerpt=”Search for The Sinking City on Steam, the Epic Games Store, Xbox One, or PlayStation 4 and you won’t find it. The Lovecraftian detective game released last year has been missing for a couple months now. Today, Ukrainian developer Frogwares finally revealed why: for the last year it’s been in…”]
“NACON is continuing its action in defence of its rights and has proceeded with the execution of this court decision by asking platforms and sites to put The Sinking City game back online so that no one is held hostage to this situation,” Nacon wrote. The company declined to comment further to Kotaku. Frogwares did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Frogwares has claimed that Nacon failed to cover certain production costs in a timely manner and at one point stopped royalty payments after the game was already out. Frogwares has also alleged that Nacon at one point tried to take ownership of the source code for The Sinking City. Nacon rejected Frogwares’ claims at the time, calling them an “erroneous interpretation of the content of the agreement and the nature of this dispute.”
During this period, the game still remained available on the Switch eShop, where it was distributed solely by Frogwares. It’s unclear when a final ruling by the Paris Court of Appeal will be rendered to determine The Sinking City’s ultimate fate on other platforms.
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