I can't imagine it will be so simple for Frogwares to rip up their contract and walk away with the money they were paid already. But I imagine their publisher openly ripping off their game will make upcoming settlements really easy for them.
The court ordered Frogwares to deliver the sources in October with 50k euros of penalty per day not shipping them. Frogwares did not deliver anything.
As an Irish company with offices in Ukraine having to settle against a french publisher paying taxes in France, low standing in court (several lawsuits) and not having executed previous court orders, it sounds harder from my point of view. I can imagine a world where they even end up having to pay for the hacking cost as well.
I don't think the court ordered them to deliver the source code.
I didn't read the full decision linked by @ernesth, but this part says that they have to deliver two "masters", one drm free and one for Steam.
Sur la livraison des formats manquants :
— ordonner à Frogwares Ireland de lui livrer les deux masters du jeu 'The Sinking city’ sur format PC DRM Free et Steam sous astreinte de 50.000 euros par jour de retard à compter du 5 ème jour suivant la notification par e-mail de la décision à intervenir
Seems kinda weird. I wonder if Frogwares could sue in a US court? Both companies probably do the bulk of their business in the US and are selling through US-based stores.
In my opinion (IANAL), making claims in their IPO that aren’t true might end up being the most damaging for them, if found to be true, and if someone cares to work that angle.
They are not.
They’ve written about it before: https://frogwares.com/the-sinking-city-is-being-delisted-her...
In short,
- They have withheld payments owed Frogwares.
- They have been behind on payments made by on average 40 days.
- They have incorrectly claimed to own the IP to third parties, including in their IPO.