The game was published by Nacon, formerly known as Bigben Interactive, a name that might be familiar due to the company’s ongoing court cases with developer Frogwares, the studio behind Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter and Lovecraftian horror title The Sinking City. Among other contractual disputes, Frogwares alleges that Nacon pirated The Sinking City and uploaded it to Steam to sell without the developer’s permission. Court documents filed in October 2021 by Nacon and a counterclaim by Paranoia creators Costikyan and Goldberg reveal that the publisher is in the midst of a legal dispute with another group as well. Gamekult, a French gaming news outlet, tracked down Costikyan and Goldberg’s court filings but not those of Nacon. So the story is slightly one-sided, but still enlightening.
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In 2016, Costikyan and Goldberg signed a contract with development studio Cyanide, owned by Nacon, to create Paranoia: Happiness Is Mandatory, a video game adaptation of Paranoia. The two writers retained the right to review the game before publishing, but by August 2019, Costikyan and Goldberg had not yet received a copy for review. Despite this, according to documents filed by the writers, Nacon wanted to announce an October 3 release date. The two writers refused to give their approval, but the publisher put out a press release anyway.
After the release date announcement, Costikyan and Goldberg received a copy of the game, which they felt was so full of bugs that it would tarnish the Paranoia brand if it were released. They provided a list of 74 bugs, including poorly implemented quests, scripts that triggered late or incorrectly, and balancing issues. Nacon capitulated and changed the release date to November 14, again making the announcement without the approval of the two rights holders.
In October, Costikyan and Goldberg received another copy of the game, which they found still unfit for publication. Nevertheless, allegedly without first notifying the two writers, Nacon released Paranoia: Happiness Is Mandatory in December 2019 as an Epic Games Store exclusive. According to their suit, the two rights holders immediately demanded that Nacon delist the game, which the publisher refused to do. Costikyan and Goldberg then filed a DMCA complaint with Epic Games, and the game was removed from the site on January 24, 2020.
Nacon filed suit against Costikyan and Goldberg in October 2021 for having Paranoia: Happiness Is Mandatory delisted. The two Paranoia creators filed an answer to the complaint and a counterclaim against the publisher on March 11, 2022, for multiple breaches of contract. The court case is ongoing.
Paranoia: Happiness Is Mandatory is currently delisted and not available for purchase.
MORE: Everything Announced at the July 2021 Nacon Connect Showcase
Source: Gamekult, PC Gaming
