'The Sinking City' Pulled from Steam as Its Developer Issues DMCA Takedown

Sieeka Khan, Tech Times 03 March 2021, 12:03 pm

"The Sinking City" was removed from Steam and other storefronts in 2020. This is the result of a legal conflict between the publisher Nacon and the developer Frogwares, and the battle is still ongoing.

The two companies still have tension going on between them, and it only escalated further after "The Sinking City" reappeared on Steam with the approval of Frogwares.

DMCA used to remove video game

On Mar. 2, the developer accused Nacon of hacking the game code and uploading the illegal version of the video game to the Steam platform, according to The Gamer.

When Nacon was accused of hacking, "The Sinking City" remained on Steam. However, that changed on Mar. 3 as the game is no longer available. Users could search for the video game on the platform, but it would send them back to the main storefront when they click on the game.

Also Read: Stop DMCA Trends on Twitter as Copyright Strikes May Send Twitch Streamers to Jail

The video game was removed due to Digital Millennium Copyright Act or DMCA takedown notice requested by Frogwares, according to a statement released by Steam. Valve VP of marketing Doug Lombardi, stated in an interview with VICE that "The Sinking City" has been in dispute in French courts for some time now.

So what is a Digital Millennium Copyright Act or DMCA? It is a copyright law in the United States that was passed in 1998 that implements two treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization.

This means that the law can criminalize production and dissemination of devices, technology, or services that are intended to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted content.

Lombardi said that an interim decision in 2020 appeared to give Nacon the right to distribute the game on Steam while the litigation pushed through. However, they received a takedown notice from DMCA for the version that Nacon shipped, so they had no choice but to respond to the notice.

Valve owns and runs the platform Steam.

Frogwares and Nacon have not released an official statement yet about what happened. When the game showed up on Steam, the news section for "The Sinking City" included a tweet from Frogwares advising the fans not to buy that particular version of the game.

However, "The Sinking City" can still be bought on PC through other storefronts.

What is The Sinking City about?

"The Sinking City" is an action-adventure game developed by Frogwares and was inspired by H.P Lovecraft's works. The video game is set in the city of Oakmont, Massachusetts, during the 1920s. It follows Charles W. Reed, a war veteran, and private investigator, as he looks for clues to the cause of the visions plaguing him.

The video game was released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 in June 2019, for Nintendo Switch in September 2019, and for PlayStation 5 in February, according to PCGamer.

The video game features an investigation system in which the quest's outcome will be defined by how observant you are when investigating the clues and the pieces of evidence.

The fictional town of Oakmont is made up of seven districts--these are Coverside, Advent, Oldgrove, Grimhaven Bay, Salvation Harbor, The Shells, and Reed Heights. All seven districts have been affected by flooding to different degrees, and the player must use a boat in order to reach drier areas.

Game players can swim if needed, but the water is infected, and it can damage the health and sanity of the player. Players can also assemble an arsenal of weapons and tools and may need to kill creatures and dispel hallucinations.