You can finally buy The Sinking City on Steam once again, but the game's original developer Frogwares says that it's uninvolved with this particular release of the game on PC.
The Sinking City is an investigative horror game with some serious Lovecraftian vibes. Unfortunately, the game's developer and publisher have been embroiled in something even more terrifying than Cthulhu and his minions: a legal battle.
The game was delisted from Steam and several other digital storefronts late last summer as part of a dispute between Frogwares and the game's publisher Nacon. Frogwares says that Nacon has breached its publishing agreement in various ways. Nacon, naturally, believes otherwise. Most recently, Nacon was allowed to return the game to sale on digital storefronts while the court case is still ongoing.
Frogwares Responds to The Sinking City Returning on Steam
The return of The Sinking City to Steam is not entirely surprising considering that a French judge has confirmed that Nacon can sell the game on digital storefronts while the court case is still in progress. However, this particular version of the game is lacking some important elements. This new Steam version has no achievements whatsoever. Furthermore, it also doesn't have any of the game's DLC that's been released to date.
This new release has prompted Frogwares to respond with a short public statement that was also released on the game's Steam Community feed:
Frogwares has not created the version of @thesinkingcity that is today on sale on @Steam. We do not recommend the purchase of this version. More news soon.
— Frogwares (@Frogwares) February 26, 2021
Nacon has not released any statement of its own at the time of writing other than a Steam Community news post announcing that the game is being sold once again.
"We are happy to announce that The Sinking City is now available on Steam!" read the Steam Community news post. "To celebrate its release, the game is 60% off until March 5th."
It's unclear if Frogwares will receive any compensation for this latest Steam release of the game. Frogwares, however, has recently released a PS5 version of the game on its own as the sole owner and publisher on that platform.
We've reached out to Frogwares and Nacon about this latest Steam release. Frogwares does not have any comment at this time and Nacon has yet to respond at the time of writing; we'll update this article when we receive more information from either party.
For now, you can buy The Sinking City on Steam. Be warned, however, that the game's return to Steam still currently lacks its DLC and achievements and we can't say for sure when they'll return, if at all.
Will you buy The Sinking City on Steam or will you wait for the court battle to be settled? Who do you think is in the right here? Let us know in the comments below!