The Sinking City returns to stores as Nacon’s legal battle continues

The Sinking City has been restored to digital storefronts, though the legal battle between developer Frogwares and publisher Nacon continues.

The game was pulled from sale back in August last year, with Frogwares accusing Nacon of not paying royalties, among other accusations.

However, it seems that Nacon has won the first victory in this legal battle, with the game being restored to storefronts – a result of the Paris Court of Appeal ruling on October 28th that Frogwares “had terminated [its] contract in a ‘manifestly unlawful’ manner.”

The court ruled that the contract must continue until it is established if Nacon violated its agreement, as Frogwares claims.

“Confirmed in its expectations by this decision and regardless of the time needed to resolve this dispute definitively, Nacon is continuing its action in defense of its rights and has proceeded with the execution of this court decision by asking platforms and sites to put The Sinking City game back online so that no one is held hostage to this situation.” said Nacon in a statement.

“It is however specified that insofar as some of the game’s online stakes depend on the goodwill of Frogwares to perform, their absence cannot be attributed to Nacon.”

In August, Frogwares laid out a series of allegations against its publisher in an open letter, detailing their side of the legal dispute. However, The developer accused Nacon of paying not royalties, demanding that the studio turns over the game’s source code to a competing studio, and misleading marketing suggesting Nacon was the game’s developer.

Nacon meanwhile rejected these allegations, stating:

“A dispute between NACON and FROGWARES over the interpretation of “The Sinking City” video game publishing agreement is pending before French courts. A decision is not expected for several months. However, FROGWARES thought it necessary to anticipate the upcoming ruling by issuing a press release on their website and Twitter feed, which reflects a personal and erroneous interpretation of the content of the agreement and the nature of this dispute.

“NACON emphatically rejects this open letter, the terms of which do not square with the facts. FROGWARES is seeking to discredit NACON in the eyes of the public and professionals alike (even going so far as disclosing confidential information!) and to jeopardise the distribution of “The Sinking City”, the development of which was principally funded by NACON. This behaviour, unworthy of any professional, is unacceptable and NACON intends to take legal action so as to get them convicted and obtain redress. NACON is confident about the outcome of the dispute, irrespective of the tricks used by FROGWARES to cause them harm.”