Earlier today, Frogwares escalated the ongoing feud with former publisher Nacon by issuing a DMCA takedown that brought The Sinking City off of Steam for the second time. This latest move comes after Frogwares accused Nacon of illegally altering The Sinking City’s code by purchasing it on another platform, hacking it, and then reuploading it on Steam under their name.
Nacon’s response is to accuse Frogwares of “acting in bad faith” and to once again reiterate that Nacon has fulfilled their end of the developer/publisher bargain.
"Nacon hereby wishes to set the record straight regarding these unjustified accusations,” begins Nacon’s statement. “Nacon has contributed to the financing of development and the payment of royalties to Frogwares to the tune of 8.9 million euros to date (including the full payment for a version of the game for Steam), making the global investment far above 10 million euros when integrating the marketing costs. Contrary to Frogwares’ allegations, Nacon has paid all amounts due.”
Nacon noted that a Paris Court of Appeals agreed with them enough to allow The Sinking City back onto Steam pending court hearings. "Today, unless Frogwares is acting in bad faith, it has no reason not to make the game available to Nacon on Steam."
To give this ongoing drama yet another twist, Nacon accused Frogwares of trying to get a version of The Sinking City sold on Steam that didn't mention Nacon as the publisher. This was presumably after Frogwares accused the French publisher of non-payment and tried to terminate their contract.
On top of that, Nacon said that Frogwares was still receiving royalty payments for each copy of The Sinking City sold on Steam.
"By encouraging the gaming community via Twitter not to buy the game on Steam, Frogwares is once again sabotaging our investments in the game," wrote Nacon.
Nacon ends by noting that "all court decisions in the dispute between Nacon and Frogwares have thus far been favorable to Nacon,” something that is certainly a veiled threat as these two companies continue their legal battle in French courts.