Last week, The Sinking City reappeared on Steam, complete with a warning from Frogwares not to buy it.The page also contains a statement from Nacon defending its position, claiming that the studio.
- The Sinking City is no longer searchable from within Steam itself, and external links to the game’s product page now redirect to the main storefront. In a statement provided to Polygon.
- The Sinking City is an action-adventure game developed by Frogwares and inspired by the works of horror fiction author H. Lovecraft.Set in the fictional city of Oakmont, Massachusetts during the 1920s, the story follows private investigator and war veteran Charles W. Reed as he searches for clues to the cause of the terrifying visions plaguing him, and becomes embroiled in the mystery of.
- The Sinking City would eventually return to Steam following a Parisian court’s ruling that Frogwares had acted unlawfully by removing the game from sale. In a statement posted earlier this week, Nacon suggested that Frogwares was attempting to “revise the terms of the contract to their sole advantage”.
Frogwares, the studio locked in an acrimonious dispute with publisher Nacon over their game, The Sinking City, used a DMCA claim to have it removed from Steam’s storefront, a Valve spokesman confirmed.
To Vice on Tuesday evening, Valve spokesman Doug Lombardi said Steam “received a DMCA take-down notice” for the version of The Sinking City that Nacon has shipped — the one Frogwares calls a hacked and pirated copy of their game. “So we have responded to that notice,” Lombardi said.
The Sinking City is no longer searchable from within Steam itself, and external links to the game’s product page now redirect to the main storefront.
In a statement provided to Polygon, Frogwares said that the version for sale on Steam “contains content that Nacon has absolutely no rights to — namely The Merciful Madness DLC.” The studio said it sent the DMCA takedown demand to Valve because it was “our most effective tool to give us time to gain further potential evidence and to also start the required and lengthy additional legal processes to prevent this from happening again.”
A Nacon spokesman directed Polygon to a statement the publisher gave Tuesday about the controversy, and declined to make additional comment on the Steam DMCA takedown.
“In the past, Frogwares has improperly relied on accusations regarding a lack of payment to refuse delivery of the game on Steam, at which point they tried to unsuccessfully terminate the contract,” Nacon said in its statement. Nacon said that “despite this blocking situation created exclusively by Frogwares,” it still made the game available to players on Steam (at least until Tuesday’s takedown) and that it would pay Frogwares royalties from those sales.
“By encouraging the gaming community via Twitter not to buy the game on Steam, Frogwares is once again sabotaging our investments in the game,” Nacon said.
A Frogwares representative pointed out to Polygon that The Merciful Madness was “first made for the Nintendo Switch version of The Sinking City,” which launched in the fall of 2019, two months after the Nacon-published PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One versions. That version of The Sinking City “belongs to Frogwares in its entirety,” the studio rep said. “When Frogwares were then able to release the game on other platforms, like PS5 (in February) or via Gamesplanet, they included that DLC.”
Last summer, Frogwares and Nacon went to court in France (where Nacon is based; Frogwares is headquartered in Kiev, Ukraine) in a dispute over royalties for The Sinking City. An appellate court ruled in October that Frogwares unlawfully terminated its contract with Nacon. Although the litigation continues, a judge told Frogwares to “refrain from any action on the breach of this contract,” as well as “any action that impedes this continuation.”
With that ruling, Nacon went back to online storefronts, such as Steam, to start selling The Sinking City again. To do so, though, Nacon says it was entitled to a full version of the game from Frogwares. Frogwares disputes that, and is arguing it in court — in a case the studio says could take years to resolve. Because of that, Frogwares alleges, Nacon took matters into its own hands to sell the game itself, resulting in the version that Frogwares considers “hacked” and “pirated.”
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What you need to know
- Frogwares is the studio that developed The Sinking City.
- Frogwares initially had a publishing relationship with French publisher Nacon (formerly Bigben Interactive).
- Ongoing legal drama over the last two years has seen Frogwares accuse Nacon of attempting to pirate The Sinking City.
- Today, Frogwares published a blog post explaining in detail how the studio believes Nacon pirated the version of The Sinking City currently available on Steam.
The ongoing drama between The Sinking City developer Frogwares and publisher Nacon (formerly known as Bigben Interactive) isn't likely to end soon. Since 2019, the studio has been embroiled in legal battles with Nacon over the publishing rights of The Sinking City, a game heavily inspired by the works of Lovecraft. These legal problems have even seen The Sinking City delisted from multiple platforms, including Steam.
On Feb. 26, Frogwares made a post on Twitter, explaining that the studio was not responsible for publishing The Sinking City's return to Steam, promising more information to come.
Frogwares has not created the version of @thesinkingcity that is today on sale on @Steam. We do not recommend the purchase of this version. More news soon.
— Frogwares (@Frogwares) February 26, 2021Today, Frogwares published a lengthy breakdown explaining how the studio believes Nacon pirated The Sinking City, resulting in the version of the game currently available for sale on Valve's PC storefront.
The main crux of Frogwares' argument hinges around how the Nacon logo was uploaded and replaced the Gamesplanet logo that Frogwares included on some of the screens. Other 'digital footprints' picked up on include how the version of the game on Steam lacks Frogwares' electronic signature, while also noting that it was the Deluxe version of the game that had been pirated. Frogwares has also found evidence in Steam's credentials tracking that the person who uploaded the Steam version of The Sinking City is technical director of Neopica, a studio acquired by Nacon in October 2020.
'Nacon decided to steal and pirate our game and they did so while leaving giant digital footprints,' the post reads. 'Nacon has proved they are willing to do anything possible to serve their interest, including illegal actions.'
Sinking City Steam Reddit
The post goes on to explain that this is the third time that Nacon has attempted to force Frogwares to push a new version of the game — once in July 2020 and again in October later that year. This is also the third time that Nacon has attempted to publish a pirated version of The Sinking City, according to the post.
The Sinking City In Steam
Frogwares notes that it is seeking further legal action against Nacon and to prevent further damages, as well as dealing with the theft of its source code.
Sinking City Steam
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