The Sinking City has once again been removed from Steam after the game’s own developer issued a DMCA takedown.
First reported by Vice’s Patrick Klepek, it’s been revealed that Frogwares has had The Sinking City removed from Steam via DMCA takedown over an ongoing legal dispute between the developer and the game’s publisher Nacon, formerly Bigben Interactive. At the time of writing, The Sinking City can no longer be found on Steam.
This has likely happened in retaliation to Nacon’s recent comments about the feud between the two companies. The publisher recently accused Frogwares of trying to “play the victim” and blame the game’s removal of achievements and cloud saving on Frogwares’ “lack of cooperation.” Frogwares has since responded by claiming that the version of The Sinking City that was up until now being sold on Steam was a cracked version from another platform and told customers not to purchase the game on Steam.
As a result, it looks like Frogwares has issued a DMCA takedown to remove the game from Steam entirely. If what Frogwares claims is true, the legal battle between the developer and Nacon is going to get a lot more intense as time goes by.
This isn’t the first time that The Sinking City has been removed from Steam. Last year, Frogwares pulled the game from the storefront after claiming that Nacon owed the developer millions in royalties. Frogwares allegedly had given Nacon the license to sell and The Sinking City in exchange for financial contributions to development and payments for reaching progression milestones.
Since then, the relationship between Frogwares and Nacon has soured significantly after Nacon refused to pay Frogwares for the aforementioned progression milestones. Nacon is now doing as it pleases with The Sinking City despite not actually owning the property, according to Frogwares. The publisher even went as far as releasing a tabletop version of The Sinking City without the knowledge of the developer.
The Sinking City is still currently available on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, but can also be purchased on PC through the Frogwares Store website.
