“Frogwares did not create the version of @TheSinkingCity for sale on @Steam today. We do not recommend purchasing this version. More news coming soon.” The developer wrote.
The Sinking City was removed from Steam, the Epic Games Store and the digital store windows of Xbox One and PS4 on August 25, 2020, following Frogwares’ legal dispute with publisher BigBen Interactive and Nacon.
Frogwares accuses these companies of repeatedly breaching their contract, withholding at least € 1 million in royalties, falsely implying ownership of the IP, and more.
During the development of The Sinking City, Frogware claimed that BigBen and Nacon would pay the deal for production milestones about 40 days later. Furthermore, these companies demanded that they get the source code for The Sinking City, despite their agreement that they could only sell the game and that they did not own the IP.
When Frogwares refused, they said BigBen and Nacon had stopped making payments for four months.In August 2019, Frogwares began a legal battle with BigBen and Nacon over these issues and many more, including concerns about Frogwares’ Sherlock Holmes games.
The Sinking City, inspired by the works of horror writer HP Lovecraft, was released in 2019. for one of the better Cthulhu games I’ve played. His commitment to updating the storytelling methods, while maintaining the setting and tone of Lovecraft, shines through through the boredom and frustration. ‘
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.