Published , by Donovan Erskine
Published , by Donovan Erskine
Developer Frogwares is in the midst of an ongoing legal feud with publisher Nacon, who the studio worked with on The Sinking City. After accusing Nacon of misconduct back in 2020, The Sinking City was delisted on Steam. Though it was restored, the game has been once again pulled following new accusations from Frogwares that states Nacon pirated the game.
The Sinking City had been unavailable on Steam since the game was initially pulled in August of 2020. However, publisher Nacon recently had the game put back on Steam, much to the surprise of the team at Frogwares. Frogwares then accused Nacon of hacking and pirating a copy of the game to be sold on digital storefronts. Now, The Sinking City has been pulled from Steam yet again after Frogwares filed a DMCA notice against Nacon.
"An interim decision last fall appeared to give Nacon the right to distribute the game on Steam while the litigation proceeded. However, today we received a DMCA take-down notice for the version that Nacon recently shipped, so we have responded to that notice," said Doug Lombardi, Valve’s VP of Marketing.
“We are aware that a final ruling on whether Frogwares are obligated to deliver a Steam version has yet not been made and could take years. As it stands, we have an appeals court ruling saying, until further notice Frogwares do not need to deliver a Steam version to Nacon. In the meantime, Nacon decided to take justice into their own hands and release a pirated build,” Frogwares shared in a statement to Vice.
It’s not often that we see a developer file a DMCA to get its own game removed from Steam, but such is the result of a very public legal battle between Frogwares and Nacon. Frogwares even went as far as to urge fans not to buy the game on steam after it was recently put back on the platform.