Lovecraftian RPG The Sinking City is available for purchase again, after an ongoing legal dispute between Frogwares developers and Nacon publishers saw it removed from digital storefronts in August. According to a statement from Nacon, the dispute is still pending in French courts. But now at least The Sinking City is back on sale on Xbox One and will be available on Steam and PS4 again soon.
In August, Frogwares stated in an open letter that Nacon (formerly Bigben Interactive) tried to claim the game’s copyright after its release, allegedly withheld payments during development, and owed Frogwares around of one million euros in unpaid royalties (about £ 900,000).
The developers said they terminated their contract with Nacon in July 2020. The sinking city began to disappear from digital stores because, what Frogwares believes was the confusion over ownership of the game. The developers removed it from other storefronts in an attempt to stop more sales at Nacon.
At the time, Nacon rejected Frogwares’ claims. In a new statement released yesterday by the publisher, they claim that the dispute is still pending in French courts and, in October, the Paris Court of Appeal ruled that Frogwares illegally terminated his contract with Nacon. Now, the developers have to fulfill the contract until the legal issues are resolved.
“Confirmed in its expectations by this decision and regardless of the time needed to resolve this dispute definitively, Nacon continues its action in defense of its rights and has proceeded to the execution of this court decision asking the platforms and sites to put The Sinking City will play online again so no one is held hostage to this situation, “said Nacon.” However, it is specified that to the extent that some of the game’s online bets depend on goodwill. of performing Frogwares, his absence cannot be attributed to Nacon “.
At the time of writing, The Sinking City is available for purchase on Xbox One. It also has a Steam page, with all the bits and pieces of DLC listed, though it’s not for sale yet. It will also arrive on PS4 “at a later date.”
In her review of The Sinking City, Alice Bee, although it was a good detective game, sustained by her lovecraftian themes: interesting things in a very atmospheric environment. representation of a deeply depressed city ”.