The Sinking City dev accuses publisher of uploading pirated version of their game on Steam

Chimpzy

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Ok, now here's one I haven't seen before.

TLDR: Ukrainian dev Frogwares was in a dispute with its French publisher Nacon over royalties and such. They were under contract to publish The Sinking City on Steam, but refused to until dispute was resolved. Frogwares now claims Nacon went behind their backs by cracking and altering a pirated copy, and uploading that to Steam for sale.

Pretty wild story. Frogwares is breeching their contract here, so they're not wholly innocent either, more like a "how is in the wrong the least". But if it's true what Nacon did, that's a whole different level of dickery. That's the kind of shit you'd expect from asset flippers, not a smaller but still bonafide professional publisher. I mean, if Nacon were to be proven guilty, that's their reputation in the industry right down the drain. Which dev would want to work with a publisher that might just take your game and run if you don't see eye to eye?

What do you lads think?
 

meiam

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Isn't it a tiny game with overwhelming negative review? That's potentially a massive lawsuit for very little sales...
 

laggyteabag

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Isn't it a tiny game with overwhelming negative review? That's potentially a massive lawsuit for very little sales...
Its currently sitting at mixed on Steam, because it is being reviewbombed. The majority of the negative reviews cite the publisher/developer drama.

Critically, the game itself got reviewed somewhat reasonably, with a 64% on Metacritic, with most outlets giving it 6's and 7's, and a smattering of 8's, but also some that are 5's and below.

The game appears to be somewhat liked, at least on the surface.
 

Dwarvenhobble

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Its currently sitting at mixed on Steam, because it is being reviewbombed. The majority of the negative reviews cite the publisher/developer drama.

Critically, the game itself got reviewed somewhat reasonably, with a 64% on Metacritic, with most outlets giving it 6's and 7's, and a smattering of 8's, but also some that are 5's and below.

The game appears to be somewhat liked, at least on the surface.
It's mostly negative if you're using the true review score system on steam not the adjusted system.
 

Chimpzy

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It's mostly negative if you're using the true review score system on steam not the adjusted system.
Yeah, from what I know, a sort of mediocre game with likewise sort of mediocre reception. Like most actual Cthulhu Mythos games actually (i.e. not just Lovecraftian like Bloodborne). They always seem to have one or two highlights, but marred by being meh everywhere else.

Tho that of course does not entitle Nacon to stiff Frogwares of their residuals (again, under the assumption they are)
 
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SilentPony

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Isn't it a tiny game with overwhelming negative review? That's potentially a massive lawsuit for very little sales...
It doesn't live up to its own promises of being a horror game, but its an absolutely adorable Lovecraftian Futurama type game, of just daily blasé life in a Lovecraft city.
 
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