Official statement on removal of our games from storefronts by Focus Home
Interactive
https://tinyurl.com/y2mzpqtb
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.
====
這是開發商Frogwares的聲明。
簡單來說相關遊戲都被前發行商Focus Home Interactive下架了。
PS、Xbox和Steam都可能一樣。
據Frogwares說法是Focus Home Interactive拒絕在合約到期後把遊戲ID轉交給他們而是
直接從平台上刪除了。
而Frogwares則是直接丟失所有相關資料，因為Focus Home拒絕轉交給他們。
而且因為Focus Home Interactive的行為可能之後玩家不只不能買，也可能不能玩遊戲了
。
目前相關遊戲只剩下福爾摩斯：罪與罰還在，但9月29後好像也會被停止發售了。
這鬧大了......

停售事小 買了不能玩問題很嚴重好嗎

這發行商是要倒了嗎？不然也太絕

倒了的話版權還比較單純呢...

這家是insurgency跟the surge 2的發行商，離倒應該還有一段距離

反正也是個無聊的遊戲

罪與罰 我特價買了還沒玩……Orz

其實很可能就是大發行商欺負小工作室不讓我繼續幫你賣 那我直接資料全刪而且文中也有提到收入也受影響 我不懂是指不能繼續賣還是指收不到錢

要欺負可以啊...動到玩家權益不會出事嗎

如果你已經下載的話應該不至於玩不到，不過還沒下載

真假 那我先下載一下...

以後在steam或psn有可能下載不到了，因為會被下架罪與罰如果你英文ok的話，我認為是推理名作沒錯遊戲案件都很福爾摩斯，不簡單而且會隨推論有不同結果

權益的話 發生這種買了不能用的事 Steam好像會退費給玩家的樣子 其它平台就不知道了

這種一定要上法院的吧 但是不一定告的贏

開發商只是間獨立工作室呀 要告贏有點難文中有說了就是發行商突然拿出開發商沒看過的條約說依條約不轉讓 開發商就傻了 那時多了這條

這種時候就會懷念實體版了