Despite the legal challenges, Ironmace Games pushes ahead
Darker Gold with the early access release of Dark and Darker, providing players with the opportunity to support and experience the game in its early stages.Dark and Darker, an anticipated player vs player vs enemy dungeon crawler developed by Ironmace Games, has faced legal troubles that led to its removal from Steam Early Access. The legal issues stem from a dispute with a former publisher, Nexon, regarding alleged code theft.
The conflict between Ironmace Games and Nexon began in 2021 when Nexon filed a legal complaint accusing Ironmace of stealing code and assets from a canceled project. It is claimed that Ironmace took assets from the game they were working on at Nexon and went on to create their own version of it.The dispute involves specific allegations of code theft and the use of assets taken from the canceled project. Nexon claims that over 11,602 files were taken and that Ironmace recruited members from Nexon’s development team to recreate the game outside of Nexon.
The legal battle intensified when the South Korean police raided Ironmace’s office in response to Nexon’s complaint. Ironmace denied the allegations, stating that their code and assets were created independently, with most assets being purchased from the Unreal marketplace.In March of the same year, Dark and Darker was removed from Steam due to a DMCA takedown filed by Nexon. Ironmace also received a cease and desist order. The developer has refuted the allegations and is attempting to get the game back on Steam.
As of now, both US and South Korean court cases are ongoing, with the latter potentially being resolved between August 2023 and September 2023. Meanwhile, Dark and Darker is available for Early Access through non-Steam platforms.
In summary, Dark and Darker’s legal issues revolve around the alleged theft of code and assets from a canceled project while working at Nexon. The game has been removed from Steam, and legal battles are ongoing between Ironmace Games and Nexon.
Today, Ironmace, the developer of Dark and Darker, announced the official release of the game. After experiencing some setbacks, including copyright infringement allegations and removal from Steam’s platform, Dark and Darker has finally made its way to early access.
All interested players can now purchase Dark and Darker directly from the developer’s official website,
www.darkanddarker.com. It is also available on a storefront called Chaf Games. Ironmace CEO Terence Park confirmed the release of the game in an interview with PC Gamer.
While Dark and Darker is not yet available on Steam, Park expressed the company’s intention
buy Dark And Darker Gold to return the game to Valve’s platform as soon as possible. However, access to the early version of the game is currently limited in Korea due to the awaited rating from the Korean Game Rating Board (GRAC). Ironmace is actively working to expedite this process.