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The Sinking City returns to stores as Nacon wins first decision in legal dispute

Paris Court of Appeal rules Frogwares acted unlawfully when it pulled game over allegedly owed royalties

Frogwares' horror game The Sinking City is once again available for purchase, but the legal dispute between the developer and publisher Nacon continues.

The title was removed from most digital stores back in August when the Ukranian studio accused Nacon of withholding €1 million in royalties, among other things.

However, a statement from Nacon reveals that The Sinking City is now available on the Xbox Store, and will return to Steam and the PlayStation store at a later date.

This is the result of a decision by the Paris Court of Appeal on October 28, which ruled that by removing the game Frogwares "had terminated [its] contract in a 'manifestly unlawful' manner."

The court has said the contract must be continued until a decision has been made on whether Nacon breached its agreement, as Frogwares alleges. The developer has been ordered to refrain from any further action that would affect this contract.

In a statement, Nacon said: "Confirmed in its expectations by this decision and regardless of the time needed to resolve this dispute definitively, Nacon is continuing its action in defense of its rights and has proceeded with the execution of this court decision by asking platforms and sites to put The Sinking City game back online so that no one is held hostage to this situation.

"It is however specified that insofar as some of the game's online stakes depend on the goodwill of Frogwares to perform, their absence cannot be attributed to Nacon."

Back in August, Frogwares claimed it was compelled to remove the game from stores to prevent Nacon from generating further sales revenues given that it allegedly owned the studio around €1 million.

It also claimed Nacon was late with several milestone payments, that there was a four-month period when it made no payments at all, and that the publisher had removed Frogwares from game covers and marketing materials in an attempt to claim ownership of the game and IP.

Nacon was formed from the consolidation of the Bigben group ahead of an IPO last year.