Frogwares becomes sole publisher of The Sinking City after dispute with Nacon

The Sinking City developer Frogwares has become the sole publisher of the horror title on all platforms, including Steam, ending its long-running dispute with previous publisher Nacon.

The Ukrainian studio broke the news in a blog post on Steam and explained it now intends to release a new version of The Sinking City that will include bug fixes, optimizations, and some compatibility considerations.

"Due to a number of technical reasons, your old saves won't be compatible with the new version. Don't worry though, when you launch the game, you will have the option to keep playing the old version if you want to finish it," said the studio. "We're keeping the old version only for a limited time. Please, consider finishing your playthrough before February 28, 2024."

A new DLC called Merciful Madness is also in the works, but will only work with the new version of the title published by Frogwares.

The Sinking City rises from the depths

Frogwares pulled The Sinking City from sale in August 2020 after accusing Nacon of breaching the terms of its publishing agreement by withholding payments and masquerading as the IP-owner.

The Sinking City returned to stores a few months later after the Paris Court of Appeal ruled it should be allowed on sale until the matter had been resolved. That prompted Frogwares to ask fans to withdraw their support for the title, which it claimed had been uploaded by Nacon without its backing.

Frogwares then filed a DMCA takedown to have that version of The Sinking City pulled from Steam.

After years of back-and-forth with Nacon, Frogwares said it's "happy" the situation has been resolved and will share more news about the future of the franchise in due course.