Previously banned Eight-Minute Empire and Istanbul developer brings its digital board games back to PC

Acram Digital, the studio behind digital versions of tabletop games including Eight-Minute Empire, Istanbul and Steam: Rails to Riches, is returning to PC following its ban from marketplace Steam earlier this year.

All of Acram’s PC ports were pulled from sale and the company’s developer page vanished in May, accompanied by a statement from Steam (the marketplace, not the game) that it had taken the action after determining that developer Grzegorz Kubas had manipulated the apps’ user ratings using fake reviews – an allegation Kubas responded to with an admission of guilt and an apology.

Eight-Minute Empire and Steam: Rails to Riches were still possible to download for those who had already purchased them, but the games and their DLC were made unavailable to buy. Acram’s planned digital version of Istanbul subsequently only launched on iOS and Android, with Acram’s other mobile titles unaffected by the ban on PC.

Five months on, however, and Acram has announced that its PC games are coming back to Steam as part of a collaboration with Mobo Studio, a mobile-focused developer whose other projects curiously include a talking clock, menstrual calendar app and a tie-tying advice app. Its only previous game-related app appears to be original colour-matching puzzler Colorix.

Eight-Minute Empire is said to be relaunched on Steam “any day now”, with Acram saying on Facebook it will announce the release date of Istanbul “soon” and is currently working on the rerelease of Steam: Rails to Riches. All three of the games remain available on iOS and Android.