Commissar SFLUFAN Posted August 25, 2020 Share Posted August 25, 2020 An open letter from our studio about the fate of The Sinking City and why it has been removed from various storefronts Quote Since the release of The Sinking City on June 27, 2019 we’ve been involved in legal battles with BigBen Interactive/Nacon over the title. In 2017 we signed The Sinking City contract as a licensing agreement with BigBen/Nacon, 2 years after the start of production. In exchange for a financial contribution to the development, we gave them the right to sell and commercialize the game on 4 platforms – Xbox One, PS4, Steam and later, Epic Games Store. The intellectual property would still belong to Frogwares, which has always been the only producer and owner of its games, including The Sinking City. We signed the deal on those terms and we would receive part payments for each production milestone completed. Then a share of revenue starting at the first euro or dollar. So all was well – until the collaboration started. During production, BBI/Nacon was hundreds and hundreds of days behind in payments in total. Each sum due on average being 40 days late, while our milestones were always on time and approved by the licensee. We had to issue formal notices multiple times so that we were able to receive the money that was owed to us. The lack of commitment to honor the financial obligations soon turned into ongoing pressure. Once BBI/Nacon bought out a competing studio working on another Lovecraftian game, they dictated that we give them our source code for The Sinking City. Once again, BBI/Nacon does not own the IP – they are a licensee. They sell the game – not develop and co-create it. After we refused to comply, we stopped receiving financial contributions for over 4 months. This kind of unacceptable behavior took on other forms as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remarkableriots Posted August 26, 2020 Share Posted August 26, 2020 I want to get this eventually so hopefully it will still be available somehow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 26, 2020 Share Posted August 26, 2020 Regardless of the legal aspects of IP moving into public domain, it’s kind of amusing that a company who seemingly only makes titles which take advantage of other people’s creations getting into a fight with a company for take advantage of their creations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted August 27, 2020 Author Share Posted August 27, 2020 The Sinking City Publisher Nacon Fires Back at Developers Over Delisting (USgamer) Quote Frogwares' dispute with Nacon/Bigben, the publisher for its Lovecraftian horror title The Sinking City, looks like it will continue on in court. Today, Nacon has issued a stern response to the developer's claims about the companies' relationship and the series of events that led to The Sinking City's sudden delisting on Xbox One, PS4, Steam, and the Epic Games Store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 The exclamation point used by Nancon in their response is enough for me to find them guilty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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