Lovecraftian horror game The Sinking City is now back on PC storefronts following a dispute with its original distributor.
05.01.2024 - 00:53 / pushsquare.com
Ukrainian developer Frogwares has emerged victorious following a lengthy legal battle with then-publisher Nacon over the Lovecraftian detective game The Sinking City. Frogwares is now the sole publisher of the IP across all platforms, and this development hopefully signals the end of the tumultuous tale.
Longtime readers and eagle-eyed observers may recall that The Sinking City was removed from the PS Store back in 2020 after a messy, public spat with French publisher Nacon. Nacon, Frogwares alleged, was sold the rights to sell the game on PS4 in exchange for development payments based on milestones achieved.
Despite reaching these milestones, the payments quickly ceased, and when the game was released, Frogwares stated that its previous contracts were cancelled. The developer alleges that Nacon breached its contract by withholding royalties and had the game removed from certain storefronts to stop further money from going to the publisher.
When The Sinking City suddenly resurfaced (pardon the pun) on Steam in 2021, Frogwares urged players not to buy it, claiming it was a pirated version published by Nacon. Now, at long last, it looks like the developer has claimed a victory in French courts and is looking forward to putting the entire sordid affair behind it.
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Did you play The Sinking City? What do you think of the long-running drama? Maintain a tenous grip on reality in the comments section below.
Khayl Adam is the second best video game journalist Australia has ever produced, and his ambitions of world domination have (thus far) been curbed by the twin siren songs of strategy games and CRPGs. He has always felt an affinity for the noble dachshund, the best kind of dog.
I'm glad to see they were victorious. I have not played this is it any good?
@Northern_munkey it's a budget bioshock. If you can look past some of the rougher edges it's worth a shot.
@Northern_munkey
Wouldn't really say it's anything like Bioshock — it's more of an Indie/ AA Call of Cthulu. There aren't many enemy variations, and the side missions are pretty much copy and paste, with a lot of encounters and ambushes blatantly telegraphed, so it's repetitive.
That aside, it oozes atmosphere, the side stories are still pretty cool and the morality system actually pays off, if I remember rightly.
A decent game — emphasis on decent — but if Lovecraft and Cosmic Horror are your jam, then this is literally made for you. Glad they secured the rights, because it's obviously a labour of love.
Well deserved love my time in this game I'm a big fan of call of cthulu the Xbox original game to is in my library.
I really enjoyed The Sinking City. And the atmosphere was so pervasively unnerving, oppressive and
Lovecraftian horror game The Sinking City is now back on PC storefronts following a dispute with its original distributor.
Had things gone differently, Frogwares’ The Sinking City would’ve trucked neatly along as one of the many decent but imperfect gaming renditions of Lovecraft’s works. Though this wasn’t meant to be, the developer is now finally in control of the game, with good news for its immediate future.
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I’m sure you recall The Sinking City. The game launched back in 2019 under development team Frogwares. At the time, this game was published through Bigben Interactive, now known as Nacon. However, the game had a rocky start in the marketplace due to a dispute between the development team and the publishers. That resulted in quite a cluster, forcing the game to be removed from digital marketplaces. Now, the dust has finally settled, and Frogwares has retained full publishing rights for their game. We might be several years since this title launched into the marketplace, but Frogwares hopes you might be interested in returning to this survival horror experience.
Ukrainian developer Frogwares is now the sole publisher of horror title The Sinking City.
Ukrainian studio Frogwares is now the sole publisher of Lovecraft-inspired detective adventure The Sinking City. This follows the conclusion of a legal dispute with publisher Nacon, in which Frogwares accused the company of claiming copyright of The Sinking City after its release, withholding milestone payments, and owing the developer unpaid royalties.
Frogwares has announced that its long running dispute with publisher Nacon over the rights of The Sinking City has come to an end, in Frogwares’ favour. Back in 2021, Frogwares accused Nacon of illegally uploading The Sinking City to Steam, using a cracked version of the game. This followed on from accusations that Nacon had not paid Frogwares on time, and was breaching a publishing agreement. Nacon rebutted, saying that Frogwares had no legal right to withhold the publisher from putting the game on Steam.
Developer Frogwares has announced that it is now the sole publisher for its survival horror detective title The Sinking City on all platforms. Along with the change in publishers, The Sinking City is also getting a new update.
Frogwares is "now the sole publisher of The Sinking City on all platforms", says the developer. This brings to an end several years of uncertainty and litigation, which saw the Lovecraftian RPG delisted from Steam several times and at one point restored by its publisher via an allegedly pirated version of the game.
Frogwares has announced that its long running dispute with publisher Nacon over the rights of The Sinking City has come to an end, in Frogwares’ favour. Back in 2021, Frogwares accused Nacon of illegally uploading The Sinking City to Steam, using a cracked version of the game. This followed on from accusations that Nacon had not paid Frogwares on time, and was breaching a publishing agreement. Nacon rebutted, saying that Frogwares had no legal right to withhold the publisher from putting the game on Steam.
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