Frogwares leaving Focus Home Interactive might deliver a deadly blow to the makers of the Sherlock Holmes series: Frogware.

„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 agreement has ended. Because, according to their official statement, sent to us only last week, „Focus has put in place a policy per 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 catalogue.” 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 may 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 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, some an unknown period 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.

Games being delisted:

• 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 under Focus Home Interactive,”

their complete statement says.

Attention: an important message from our studio. pic.twitter.com/HqMA8Du8iE

— Frogwares (@Frogwares) September 26, 2019

Frogwares, employing over 80 people in Kiev and Dublin, might be dying over this conflict. (Perhaps Embracer Group AB, formerly known as THQ Nordic AB, owning THQ Nordic and Deep Silver, for example, should acquire them…)

Source: WCCFTech

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