Nacon-Frogwares Conflict : The tumultuous genesis of The Sinking City

[Mass_Pincup]

The article is in French and behind a paywall so I'm writing a summary here.

-Focus dropped Frogwares and replaced them with Cyanide for Call of Cthulhu because Frogwares choose to work with Nacon (Big Ben Interactive at the time) on Sherlock Holmes and the Devil's Daughter.

-Frogwares still wanted to work on a Lovecraftian games so they pitched The Sinking City to Nacon who greenlight the project

-According to Frogwares, Nacon was months late on their milestones payment

-In 2018, Nacon buys Cyanide which angers Frogwares because the only reason they're currently working with Nacon on The Sinking City is because Cyanide took over Call of Cthulhu. So they no longer trusted Nacon and their relationship was stripped to the bare minimum

-Nacon on the over hand is claiming that Frogwares repeatedly asked for commercial data which could be used by other publishers, thinking that Frogwares was trying to self publish.

-Apparently, the split on the EGS exclusivity money is also a point of tensions between the two.

-At E3 2019, Frogwares announce the Switch version of The Sinking City which was unheard of by Nacon at that point. So while Frogwares claimed that a Switch port was not possible beforehand, they seemingly worked on the port using Nacon's money and marketing for a version of the game they would see 0 cent of.

-According to Nacon, Frogwares withheld key elements (such as materiel to create in engine trailers) for the game's marketing campaign. Frogwares denies and argue that they delivered those elements to the American company hired by Nacon to create the trailers (which is now closed). Frogwares didn't want to directly provide them to Nacon in fears of them stealing the source code.

-Since there's very little communication between the 2 parties, Nacon and Frogwares are both publicly communicating on the game without concerting each others. Which leads to situation where Nacon had to cancel some announcement because Frogwares went public first. For Frogwares, Nacon spent significantly less than what was agreed to in their contract for marketing.

-In the end what really drove Frogwares and Nacon to justice was in regards to money owed from game sales. Frogwares believed that they were being ripped off of their royalties since Nacon didn't share financial informations which led Frogwares to break their contract with Nacon and remove every version of the game published by Nacon.

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Everyone who can should give this a read because it goes really in depth into the inner relationship between the two and every info is coming from people still working in both companies.

Lock if old.

 

[Hoggle]

So should I just buy the PS5 version now? Is there a chance it gets pulled again? The whole thing is very confusing and sucks if devs aren't getting paid.

 

[sir_crocodile]

so basically who knows who is at fault and it will probably be settled/figured out in the courts?

 

[Deleted member 8593]

What a weird story involving some seemingly extremely petty people.

 

[BassForever]

so basically who knows who is at fault and it will probably be settled/figured out in the courts?

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This probably is an actual example of both sides being at fault. Both probably have good examples of the other party breaching the contract. My guess is they'll eventually have to find some settlement agreement.

 

[Elandyll]

It's a real shame, but it looks like it came from a breakdown in communication and trust.
Currently really enjoying my playthrough on PS5, in spite of the jank (and asset reuse throughout) and many glitches. Atmosphere is ace, and the semi open world format and game mechanics work pretty well.

 

[War95]

So should I just buy the PS5 version now? Is there a chance it gets pulled again? The whole thing is very confusing and sucks if devs aren't getting paid.

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The PS5 version is self published by Frogware, totally legit

 

[Systolique]

If you read/understand french, please consider subscribing to Gamekult in order to support journalists there, as they do very good work both reviewing games and talking about the industry at large

 

[BobbeMalle]

-At E3 2019, Frogwares announce the Switch version of The Sinking City which was unheard of by Nacon at that point. So while Frogwares claimed that a Switch port was not possible beforehand, they seemingly worked on the port using Nacon's money and marketing for a version of the game they would see 0 cent of.

This honestly does not look good at all for Frogwares, but in general the situation is incredibly difficult at this point. What a mess.

 

[Nemesis_]

The craziest thing from the dispute is that apparently Nacon pirated a copy of The Sinking CIty following the split

It's also an interesting read, but it's obviously one side of the story

 

[Maxime]

I wanted to make a thread about it, but was lacking time. So thanks! There is a second part coming this Friday, more about the legal part of the story.

The lack of trust between the two parties between each other from the get go is really insane.

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If you read/understand french, please consider subscribing to Gamekult in order to support journalists there, as they do very good work both reviewing games and talking about the industry at large

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Also this.

 

[Patitoloco]

The craziest thing from the dispute is that apparently Nacon pirated a copy of The Sinking CIty following the split

It's also an interesting read, but it's obviously one side of the story

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Yes, we had a somewhat big thread about it when it happened, it's crazy how they keep trying to up each other with new loopholes lol

 

[KnivesAndCoins]

What a shitshow. And here we are, i a new golden age of horror games, and lovecraftian games are still under the usual curse.

 

[Byron Hinson]

So in the end neither party seems trustworthy

 

[Elandyll]

So in the end neither party seems trustworthy

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I think the outlook really depends on which point of view you adopt.
From the devs pov, they poured their work and talent in a game they created and Technically own, while thry have oreviously been seriously burned by FHI publishing and Cyanide. And then it looked like history was repeating itself.

From the Publisher pov, they are taking the risks, financing a game they won't "technically" own for the simple right to publish it and earn from sales, while historically sales on Cthulhu based games never really set the world on fire before, which is why they have a very specific contract, including which platforms they sell on (while the devs told them it would be impossible to pirt on Switch).

Reading the outcome, it seems both should have worked to reconcile, but were too entrenched and greedy to do so in the end, in both sides.

 

[starpower]

Sorry to necro this thread, game is on sale on Steam and was curious if the proper people are getting paid from purchases of this version?

 

[smokey5604]

Sorry to necro this thread, game is on sale on Steam and was curious if the proper people are getting paid from purchases of this version?

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I unfortunately don't think the situation was resolved. I seem to remember that first ruling was in favor of Nacon since Frogwares "unjustly" pulled the game from storefronts.

 

[starpower]

Ugh! Okay then, I will hold off. Thanks, smokey5604

 

[Fat4all]

i think only new releases benefit the devs, right?

ps5 and Series?

 

[uncredited male mk2]

If you want it on PC they have Gamesplanet version which has everything and goes to devs.

 

[Candylion]

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[starpower]

The Origin version too. Rebought it there to get everything after unknowingly buying the Steam one.

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My Google skills can't seem to find a current Origin page since the ea pc relaunch. I would certainly be interested in buying it there if there is a Halloween sale price that matches Steam

 

[Candylion]

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