After Lovecraftian RPG The Sinking City disappeared from digital store windows last year, he returned to Steam. However, the developers Frogwares have warned fans not to buy it, as it is apparently not the version of the game they made. It looks like the current Steam version was put on the platform by Nacon, The Sinking City’s publisher, who had Frogwares in a long and messy legal dispute over ownership of the game.
In August last year, Frogwares issued a statement claiming that Nacon withheld payments during the development of the game, Frogwares owed about € 1 million in royalties (about £ 900,000) and wrongly tried to claim the copyright of The Sinking City. Some store windows had already started removing the game due to Frogwares’ confusion over ownership, and then the developers took the game off of remaining stores to stop sales going to Nacon. At the time, Nacon “emphatically” rejected the developer’s allegations, saying the dispute was still pending before the French courts.
In October, however, the courts ruled that Frogwares had terminated their contract with Nacon illegally when they removed the game from sale, and would have to abide by it until the legal dispute was settled. The Sinking City returns to Xbox and the Microsoft Store in January. Frogwares also released it again on Steam, except that the version mysteriously disappeared again shortly afterwards.
Now, however, it’s back – but it’s apparently a different version than the one released in January.
“Frogwares has not made the version of The Sinking City that is on sale on Steam today. We do not recommend purchasing this version. More news coming soon,” Frogwares posted on Twitter.
The Sinking City currently available on Steam seems to be an old version of the game. One Steam review claims that it is not the same version that Frogwares released in January, and that it does not have DLC, cloud savings, and performance. It’s unclear whether Nacon is the one who posted it on Steam, though judging by Frogwares’ tweet, it’s currently the implication.
It’s probably a messy one. I have contacted Frogwares and Nacon and will update this post if I respond.