The conflict between Nacon and Frogwares continues, with the first claiming that the developer of The Sinking City is “sabotaging our investments” as the game is once again removed from Steam.
Earlier today, it was reported that Frogwares had issued a DMCA to withdraw the Lovecraftian adventure The Sinking City from Steam just a few days after urging users not to buy it, claiming that the version on sale was not created by Frogwares.
The studio later accused Nacon, the game’s publisher, of pirating The Sinking City from another store to sell it on Steam.
Nacon has now responded with its own statement, stating that these are “unfair claims” and claiming that it is “contractually the only exclusive distributor of The Sinking City on Steam”.
“By encouraging the gaming community via Twitter not to buy the game on Steam, Frogwares is once again sabotaging our investments in the game,” wrote the company.
The dispute started last year when Frogwares removed The Sinking City from all stores, accusing Nacon of failing to pay, retaining € 1 million in royalties and claiming intellectual property rights over the game – something Frogwares insists has always belonged to the studio.
The developer claimed that he was forced to remove the game to prevent Nacon from accumulating more royalties while seeking legal action against the publisher.
However, in today’s statement, Nacon states that it has paid all amounts due.
The publisher claims to have paid Frogwares € 8.9 million, including royalties, financing for the development of the game and full payment for the Steam version.
When accounting for marketing costs, Nacon claims to have invested more than € 10 million in The Sinking City.
“Today, unless Frogwares is acting in bad faith, there is no reason not to make the game available to Nacon on Steam,” wrote the publisher.
The company also pointed to a decision by the Paris Court of Appeals – which ruled that Frogwares’ contract termination was “manifestly illegal” – and claims that all court decisions in the dispute so far have been in favor of Nacon.
In October, the court asked Frogwares to refrain from any further action that could affect this contract until a decision was made on whether Nacon had breached the agreement, as the studio claims.
Nacon says that since that decision, “repeatedly and unsuccessfully” has asked Frogwares to make the game available on Steam again. As this did not happen, a contract clause allowed the publisher to use a third party to adapt the game.
He states that the new version on Steam still indicated that Frogwares was the owner of the IP rights and that Frogwares would receive royalties generated by the sales.
The publisher also claims that Frogwares tried to return The Sinking City to Steam again without mentioning Nacon as the publisher, pointing this out as proof that the developer could put the game back on Steam if he wanted to.