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.
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.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 15
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 tense that I eventually had to take a break from it. I mean, that's a solid 10/10 for "Lovecraftiness"
It’s a great lovecraftian adventure game. Has some great detective tales, branching paths, a boat for travel down streets. And of course, monsters.
Good to hear that they got their game back Nacon sucks that is a fact.
@KendoHead Yeah this is pretty much my feelings about the game too. A great experience but its was spread over too big a canvas so it got a bit repetitive in the end - especially if you tried doing all side quests like I did.
@Kidfried @KendoHead @AgentMantis thanks for the info guys. I'll have a look as I do like a good cthulu yarn.
@Northern_munkey one of the worst games I have ever played.
Felt very unfinished, kind of inbetween indie and AA as well.
But it does have a good lovecraftian story to it.
Sinking City felt like a waste of time to me, mainly because a friend gifted it to me else it would've been a waste of money as well.
Its performance is nothing but suboptimal as well, granted I did play this way back when on ps4, it might've gotten patched since.
I prefer the Call of Cthulhu game if you want some HP Lovecraft goodness.
@Flaming_Kaiser I remember the original article, and quickly came the same conclusion. Frogwares provided all the evidence and documentation to prove their side was accurate and all Nacon did was bully them and complain about ungrateful developers. Truly ridiculous, they were just bitter that they expected the game to fail and it succeeded and then some. Happy to hear they got this back, I had considered playing it but held off because I didn’t want to make a purchase that could actively hurt the developers.
@DeathlySW Totally agreed you set up a contract you pay what owe. Big companies are really ruthless and in this case criminal I hope they have to pay back missed revenue.
@Northern_munkey
It's definitely worth a look. I quite enjoyed it. Bit janky in places, but a solid effort. A must for Lovecraft fans really.
PS5 Deluxe edition is £8 in the PS store at the moment. Now's the time
Great game. Can't wait for a next one from them 🩵
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