Roots of Pacha delisted on Steam due to contractual dispute

gamesindustry.biz:

Sim title Roots of Pacha has been pulled down from Steam due a dispute between developer Soda Den and publisher Crytivo.

In a post shared on Twitter, the studio said: "We are sad to report that we have been engaged in a dispute with Crytivo over the rights to Roots of Pacha."

The post further said that Soda Den seeked an amicable resolution internally but wasn't able to do so.

"Instead of working with us to address the issue, Crytivo went to Valve and authorised them to remove Roots of Pacha from Steam without our knowledge or consent."

Soda Den added that the team is "cautiously optimistic" that the title will return soon and is continuing to work on updates for the title. The studio did not detail the nature of the rights issues.

In a response to the developer's tweet, Crytivo shared a statement saying it's "working diligently to resolve the situation as quickly as possible."

The publisher explained that it's worked on Roots of Pacha for the past three years alongside Soda Den, with the title launching on April 25.

"On April 27, just two days after the successful release, we received an unexpected message from the Soda Den team, informing us they were claiming to unilaterally rescind the contract we had worked under for three years, treating it as void. This disregarded all of our work and the agreed-upon revenue-sharing contract terms. Shortly after, they removed our access to the Steam page for our team.

"Per Valve policy, if there is a dispute between parties, they remove the page until the dispute is resolved."

Concluding the message, Crytivo said that it's "not seeking anything but the benefit of the contract we worked hard under for three years."