The Sinking City is a Lovecraftian horror detective game that launched in the summer of 2019 and then disappeared from most online stores in August 2020 due to a dispute between publisher Nacon and developer Frogwares. Today, the game returns to the windows. It is available for purchase at the Microsoft Store for Xbox One; it will return to Steam and PlayStation Store at a later date.
The game was removed from Steam, the Epic Games Store, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on August 25, 2020. At the time, Frogwares released an open letter detailing its side of the legal dispute with publisher Nacon, which had recently merged with Bigben Interactive. The letter stated that Nacon refused to pay royalties, with the total amount due at “about 1 million euros”. Frogwares also had problems with Nacon’s game marketing, which the studio saw as a mistake for consumers to think Nacon was the developer of the project.
“Short version: we were forced to terminate the contract with our licensee for several breaches of our contract,” says the statement released by Frogwares. “We recommend that you read this open letter to our fans, journalists and people in the industry, to understand why this is happening and how you can still get The Sinking City. “
Today, Nacon released a statement with an update on the legal case. The dispute between Nacon and Frogwares is still pending in French courts and will last for several months. However, on October 28, 2020, the Paris Court of Appeal issued its first enforceable decision. The Court ruled that Frogwares had illegally terminated its contract and, therefore, the contract will continue until further decisions are made. The Court ordered Frogwares “to refrain from any action on breach of this agreement, [and to] refrain from any action that prevents this continuation. “
The Nacon statement says: “Confirmed in its expectations for this decision and regardless of the time necessary to resolve this dispute definitively, NACON continues its action in defense of its rights and continued the execution of this judicial decision by asking the platforms and sites to place The Sinking City I play online again so that no one is held hostage by this situation. However, it is specified that, as some of the game’s online bets depend on Frogwares’ goodwill to perform, its absence cannot be attributed to NACON. “
The Sinking City remained at the Nintendo Switch store last year, as well as through some distribution partners such as Origin and Games Planet.
Polygon contacted Nacon and Frogwares, and both parties declined to comment.