Following a charge of piracy by The Sinking City developer Frogwares, Nacon responded to the developer with a statement arguing that Frogwares’ lack of cooperation in bringing the game to Steam triggered a clause in its contract that allows the publisher to change and host an alternative version of the game on the platform.
It is the most recent in a coming and going increasingly confused between the two companies, centered around The Sinking City and an ongoing dispute over the publishing agreement between Nacon and Frogwares.
At the beginning of the conflict, The Sinking City was withdrawn from sale due to disagreement, but as of this year, Nacon has been given the green light to relaunch the game on multiple platforms, including Steam. This is where things get especially complicated.
Frogwares tweeted a PSA shortly after the game reappeared on Steam, warning players not to buy what they later called an illegitimate version of the game. Nacon, in a statement shared with Steam, argued that the published version was “official and complete”, despite Frogwares’ claims. This prompted Frogwares to release a 9-minute video describing how the Steam version of The Sinking City it was actually an altered version of the game distributed on GamesPlanet, and accusing Nacon of essentially selling a pirated version of the game.
“In line with the court’s decision, Nacon repeatedly and unsuccessfully asked Frogwares to make the game available on Steam, otherwise it would apply a clause in the contract in which case the game would be adapted by a third party,” explains Nacon.
This is the justification given in today’s statement for what Frogwares labels piracy: Nacon worked with one of its subsidiaries to adapt a different version of the game for Steam after Frogwares’ alleged refusal to cooperate.
However, last night, Frogwares managed to remove the game from Steam through a DMCA removal. Now, Nacon is arguing that it published only that amended version of The Sinking City because of Frogwares’ refusal to supply the Steam version of the game, something Nacon says was ordered by a Paris court during its ongoing legal dispute.
“In the past, Frogwares unduly relied on charges of non-payment to refuse delivery of the game on Steam, at which point they unsuccessfully tried to terminate the contract,” explains the Nacon statement. “The Paris Court of Appeal considered this action ‘manifestly illegal’; ordering the continuation of the contract and encouraging Frogwares to refrain from ‘any action that would prevent such continuation’.”
Nacon goes on to describe Frogwares’ actions as deliberate sabotage against its attempts to recover its investment in the development of the game, Nacon’s financing says it exceeds 10 million euros. He argues that Frogwares refuses to deliver a Steam-ready copy The Sinking City allowed him to look for other ways to put the game on the platform.
In addition, it reaffirms that it has exclusive rights to distribute The Sinking City on Steam and disputes Frogwares’ previous accusations, saying that the developer had and is still entitled to any royalties generated by Steam sales (in case the game reappears on the platform).
The statement ends with a vague legal threat against Frogwares for ‘its aggressive and damaging comments’, making it seem unlikely that this argument will have a calm solution soon.
Update: Interestingly, a statement published by Frogwares about the DMCA removal of The Sinking City seems to disagree with some of the claims made by Nacon. Specifically, Nacon says the court has instructed Frogwares to fulfill Nacon’s desire to bring The Sinking City back to Steam.
Meanwhile, in Frogwares’ statement: “We are aware that a final decision on whether Frogwares is required to deliver a version of Steam has not yet been made and could take years. As it stands, we have a decision by the appeals court saying that, until further notice, Frogwares does not need to deliver a version of Steam to Nacon. “