Developer Frogwares released The Sinking City back in 2019 to mixed reviews from both the public and critics. The game took inspiration from the works of HP Lovecraft and put the player in the role of a detective. Frogwares is no stranger to detective games, its Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series has sold millions of copies across the world.
Since The Sinking City’s publication, Frogwares has been involved with several legal disputes over the publishing and distribution of the game. These disputes resulted in the games removal from storefronts. Now, the difficulties with the publishing and distribution of The Sinking City seem to be continuing to the point where the developer is urging people not to buy its game on Steam.
The Sinking City re-released on Steam today with a 60% price slash, but Frogwares is warning consumers not to buy it. Taking advantage of its Twitter’s integration into Steam’s news section, Frogwares have issued a statement regarding this version of the game and how it’s not the version made by the studio. This announcement is the result of on-going disputes with distributor Nacon. Frogwares claims Nacon have been neglecting to pay the company its owed share of the games revenue and have infringed on Frogwares ownership of The Sinking City IP numerous times. So far, the courts have ruled in Nacon’s favor.
The ruling has resulted in this Steam re-release, which is not supported by Frogwares and contains an old version of the game. The older version of the game is sans many improvements Frogwares has made since its initial publication. The drama over this lawsuit has resulted in a mostly negative review score across Steam for The Sinking City.
This is not the first time this has happened to a small developer. Small studios are systemically disadvantaged by poor access to legal teams, meaning they are easily taken advantage of by publishers with full departments dedicated to legal matters. Currently the only way to support the developers behind The Sinking City is to buy the game directly from Gamesplanet, where Frogwares is listed as the publisher.
So far fans have shown their support to Frogwares in this case, admonishing Nacon for its poor behavior. However, with the court ruling in Nacon’s favor so far, it is understandable why some have chosen to purchase via Steam. Still, legally Nacon may be in the right, but morally the company has offered no explanation that justifies its alleged behaviour towards Frogwares.
The Sinking City is available now on PC, PS4, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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