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Frogwares complain that Focus Home Interactive are removing their games from stores

Infinitron

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I was actually emailed this by a PR agency. Major drama.

http://frogwares.com/official-state...s-from-storefronts-by-focus-home-interactive/

Official statement on removal of our games from storefronts by Focus Home Interactive
Fate of Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments still unsure

Hello,

This letter is addressed to everyone who is interested in the video game industry, and wants to take a look at what’s happening behind the curtain.

We are Frogwares, the developer of the Sherlock Holmes video games, and The Sinking City. We make detective games because it’s our passion, and because it allows us to live off it.

But today, that is under threat. Some of our games are being removed from Sony’s and Microsoft’s storefronts, and even maybe from Steam. This list includes our titles like Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments, The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes Vs. Jack The Ripper and Magrunner: Dark Pulse (see full list below).

Why? Because Focus Home Interactive, the licensee (or “publisher”) that was in charge of commercializing these games on these platforms, refuses to transfer the title IDs to us, the creators and IP owners of those titles, even though our Publishing and Distribution Agreement has expired.

Because, according to their official statement, sent to us only last week, “Focus has put in place a policy in accordance with which they will not transfer any title – the content ID or title ID – belonging to any developer which has removed all of their games from the Focus catalog”.

A policy that is not in any of our previous or existing contracts with Focus and that has never been applied to us in the past.

Because of that policy, our games will be taken down from all storefronts.

As it stands right now, the only game left is Sherlock Holmes Crimes & Punishment which only has until September 29th. It is possible that it will be taken down at this date or earlier if nothing is done. The players will no longer be able to buy and play the game. We will also lose all our wishlists and every other bit of information on those store pages. As the creators and IP owners of all those games, we have no control and no say in this. The decision of Focus Home left us voiceless.

We are in the process of setting up new store profiles, and we are contacting console stores and hope to try and rectify the situation. However, we are unable to confirm if this can be done and already know that it will be impossible for certain games on previous gen, and very costly for others as we will have to update the SDK and that takes months. We are certainly not going to give up, and will pursue this issue through the appropriate channels.

We have always been an independent studio. We worked with many licensees on the grounds of mutual interests and benefits, but it’s the first time in 20 years we have encountered such a situation. We are losing all revenue attached to these games, for some – for an unknown period of time and for other games, forever. This new policy from Focus Home towards former contracted developers will land a serious blow to our studio, threatening our future games and the people who develop them.

Right now, we are in a tough situation. We are preparing ourselves for a significant loss. To those parties that can help us and have influence over the situation – feel free to contact us.

————————————————————–

Full list:

On Steam, PS4, Xbox One, PS3 and Xbox 360: Sherlock Holmes Crimes & Punishments availability ends on September 29th.

Already taken down on PS3: The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, Magrunner: Dark Pulse

Already taken down on Xbox 360: Sherlock Holmes versus Jack The Ripper, The Testament Of Sherlock Holmes, Magrunner: Dark Pulse

On Steam, The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes Vs. Jack The Ripper and Magrunner: Dark Pulse are published by Frogwares and not by Focus Home Interactive.
 

J1M

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I don't see anything in this statement about suing them for damages. Which is the obvious course of action to force a solution that will work for both sides.

Transfering the content ids to avoid legal fees will motivate the publisher. But if that fails, the looming spectre of discovery making their records public will do the job.
 

Morkar Left

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Hard to believe that focus home interactive didn't check if it's legal before making it a house policy???
 
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I don't see anything in this statement about suing them for damages.

You probably don't want to let the other party know you're suing them before the actual lawsuit hits them.
You're right, they should have filed the lawsuit before whining on social media.
If focus home interactive caves due to negative pressure from a simple social media stunt then it saves them a lot of time and money.
 

Bester

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Frogwares
Ukro-nazis with anti-russian propaganda in their games? Mentally unstable liars and psychos end up having difficulties in the legal world? How surprising.

When you're a mental lying dumbfuck, trouble always finds you, and you're always pleading the world for some perceive injustice. Fuck them, I trust western companies way more. Sue if true, but you're not suing are you? That tells me everything I need to know.
 

Nano

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Grab the Codex by the pussy Strap Yourselves In
I was about to make a quip about "this is why pirates are good", but apparently the devs are also making money from these games, not just the publisher. In any case, they did the right thing by publicly exposing Focus Home for doing this.
 

Bester

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I was about to make a quip about "this is why pirates are good", but apparently the devs are also making money from these games, not just the publisher. In any case, they did the right thing by publicly exposing Focus Home for doing this.
They're lying, it's fake news.
 

JarlFrank

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Bester

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Holocaust denier and a nazi wants to side with ukrainians who kill Russians? Wow, surprised!
 

LESS T_T

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Because, according to their official statement, sent to us only last week, “Focus has put in place a policy in accordance with which they will not transfer any title – the content ID or title ID – belonging to any developer which has removed all of their games from the Focus catalog”.

Meanwhile, Focus handing out content IDs for D:OS 1 amicably:



(He was producer at Focus, if it matters.)
 

Bester

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OBVIOUSLY. Like I said, the ukrainians are europe's niggers, always trying to play the victim, but due to a low IQ unable to concoct a plausible lie.
 
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Spectacle

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If nothing of this was written in the contracts, Frogwares should sue. Easiest solution.
Sue for what? Unless it was in the contract Frogwares doesn't have any right to the store page entries that Focus Home created.

Legally the store page is a separate entity from the game. Just because the license to distribute the game has expired it doesn't mean the publisher has to give away the store page, even if they can no longer use it to sell the game.

It's a dick move for sure, but probably completely legal. Pretty sure Frogwares knows that, or they would be handling this in private instead of whining on social media.
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
They sent out another press release:

9 out 10 Frogwares games ended up being removed from stores
8fdaf607-abad-4c9a-80f2-7891e44bd725.jpg
Able to retain Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments on Steam and GOG

Team release free digital booklet to thank fans for their support

04 October 2019 - Dublin, Ireland | On September 26th 2019, Frogwares highlighted that their games were being removed from various online stores following the expiration of its publishing agreement with Focus Home Interactive.

Today, Frogwares has shared that of the 10 store listings that were under threat, 9 were permanently removed. The team was, however, able to fully recover the Steam store listing for Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments and have also now released the game on GOG.






Sherlock Holmes: Memories, Stories and Thoughts booklet preview
“The outcome is pretty bleak, and we are now fighting an uphill battle, trying to resubmit our games back on their stores where possible. As we previously said, the process is going to take several months, but there's hope and we will continue to push on.

We are forever grateful for the sheer amount of public and industry-wide support we got, and we truly appreciate everyone who added their voice to the issue. To show our gratitude we put together a digital booklet for Sherlock Holmes games and have released it for free to everyone. A big thank you to all the community that did actually reach out to us to try help once we brought this to light.
” - Wael Amr, CEO, Frogwares

Downloads of the free digital booklet highlighting memories, stories and art throughout the various Sherlock games developed by the studio can be obtained via:
  • GOG: Use the redeem code SWEETTHANKS at gog.com/redeem
  • Steam: As a free DLC on the Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishment store page*
  • Direct download from Frogwares http://bit.ly/2VeCWju

    *The Steam download will be live at around 1AM CEST / 7PM EDT / 4PM PDT
 
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