I don't see it on Steam again.
I'm thinking "Nacon's version" that they recently uploaded to Steam got pulled.

Not sure if Nacon pulled it, Valve pulled it, or what/who pulled it.

Removed once again. The Schrödinger's City.

This is a developers worst nightmare, Frogware always present proof for all their allegations, in the other hand, Nacon just point with the finger and act so shady, I hope everything solve soon and we could finally purchase The Sinkong City, that game looks incredible interesting!

This is too funny


https://www.vice.com/en/article/epdw7p/the-sinking-city-developer-uses-dmca-to-remove-its-own-game-from-steam

I'd expect the next step is for the publisher to file a counter notice. They clearly believe they have the right distribute the game after all...

My first thought was ... see picture.

Frogwares is really royally shooting themselves in the foot.

For everyone who has not followed the case: Nacon (the publisher formerly known as Bigben Interactive) has won a temporary victory in court last October.

Quote from https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-01-05-the-sinking-city-returns-to-stores-as-nacon-wins-first-decision-in-ongoing-legal-dispute Since the publishing contract is still in effect (at least at the moment since to my knowledge no final decision has been made in that case yet) Nacon is well within their rights to publish the game on Steam. It could be argued if Frogwares were already breaching the court order by not providing Nacon with a copy to publish on Steam. But by publicly claiming copyright violation and issuing a DMCA they certainly have.

While it might be highly unusual for a publisher to source a copy of a published game anywhere else than from the developer it is not illegal. GOG has also done so many times in the past. They just got the signature from the publisher/developer/(whoever held the rights to a particular game) on the contract that allowed GOG to publish the game and then went ahead and bought a copy from EBay since the rights holder didn't have any copies of the old game left.

So in other words: Nacon was well within their rights with what they did, even if it was unusual. Frogwares on the other hands have slandered Nacon as pirates and breached a court order.

I'd like to add: I'm not on anyones side in this conflict. If everything Frogwares says is true (Nacon retroactively canceling milestones on an already published game... WTF??!!?) then I hope Nacon gets hit hard by the final verdict. But we only know one side of the story since Nacon is clever enought not to tell their strategy in court to the public.

At the moment Frogwares is really doing everything they can to lose the case. They should fire their lawyer fast and get a competent one.

IMHO what's sad about this whole situation is...

... The Sinking City...

... is a good game. Great? No... but good (especially if you know the source material). If it was a bad game, it would be easier IMO to watch this train wreck happen and chuckle at the shenanigans. But now it's just kinda terrible all around.

I remember when the game first released and the Game Director was talking to players and trying to get feedback. He seemed genuinely engaged and willing to accept criticism. Too bad.

Yes! I agree. I think this game will be just the thing for me since I am a lifelong fan of HP. Lovecraft and I like Frogwares Sherlock games, so even if this game is not Game of the year I am sure I would enjoy it.

But now I fear it might vanish and not reappear legally for a long time. Sad indeed.

Btw. Was Sinking City at any point for sale on GOG?

It had a coming soon page with, I beleive, Bigben Interactive (now Nacon) as a publisher. Soon after it was removed and was never seen since. It was the first time when Frogwares accused Nacon of withholding money from sales. Very odd that it reappeared on other stores with additional DLCs (even timed Switch exclusives) only to be removed and replaced with inferior version on Steam (but not other stores) with further allegations from Frogwares. And I thought that all was resolved. This situation is really annoying for me personally.

Maybe soon, maybe never. I've played a bit and completed first chapter of the game on PS4 on hardest and it was nice, not great though. There are too many games in my library which I would never touch in my life I'm afraid and I have not installed any new game for months. So I will wait for it to appear on GOG and I want to be sure that Frogwares will receive money this time given the situation, for now I believe they were tricked by publisher.

I'm not a huge fan of H.P.Lovecraft but 3 games based on his works hit me really hard: Alone in the Dark (1992), Prisoner of Ice (1995) and Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (2002). And if I lost my patience of waiting I can always revert to PS4 version.

How Nacon Cracked and Pirated The Sinking City (by Frogwares, 1 Mar 2021)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYTSt5oOr5g&feature=emb_logo

Thanks for that!

They receive the money from Gamesplanet, that's why it's been up this whole time. It's also 100% DRM free. If you want the game today, the only reason not to get it there is some kind of loyalty to GOG. If you don't really want to play it now though, then fair enough.

According to the courts, they have the right temporarily until the whole case is decided. If that's true, Frogwares is putting their foot in it, since any sales made while things are in question would be awarded to Frogwares as damages if they win. But pulling this stunt could damage their case because they are not complying with a court decision. However the whole case is very muddy with contradicting stories as to the official court rulings. This is the 3rd publisher Frogwares has had a virtually identical problem with, and at that point, one has to wonder if they are the shady ones trying to extort things from their publishers. Once, it's a bad day. Twice, and you say, ok. Really bad run of luck. Thrice, and it's a pattern.

I hope whoever is right wins.
Rest assured that if Frogwares wins, any sales deemed to be fraudulent or illegal will go to them as damages awards from the courts. There is a mechanism in virtually all copyright law to accommodate this.

Most certainly, even Frogwares confirmed it in their video. DRM free is always a plus but I'd rather have one more game in my current GOG library. You could think of me as some kind of GOG loyalist (have you seen my motto?) but like I mentioned before there is a way for me to play that game legally anyway. Yes, I don't want to play it right now and to be honest I would rather wait and see how this situation end first.