After its founder left Korean studio Nexon to start their own company, it seems Dark and Darker’s Ironmace studio couldn’t fully escape its legal troubles. A Korean court found the developers were in general violation of trade secret crimes, as it was found the studio was utilizing external servers for Nexon’s information, as reported by Chosun Biz.
The more direct and heavier charges for copyright violation accused Ironmace of utilizing code from Nexon’s “P3” for its project. However, the investigations found that none of the code from “P3” were seen in Dark and Darker, thus deeming the latter as a fully independent project.
The final conclusion is that Ironmace must pay 8.5 billion won, which is about 5.89 million US dollars. The courts ordered 1 billion paid as soon as possible, and the rest of the 7.5 billion will have an additional back pay percentage tacked on in addition.
This is the latest development in a years-long legal battle between Ironmace and Nexon. The latter attempted cases in both the USA and South Korea, but it seems only certain Korean charges stuck after investigation.
The lawsuits caused the game to be pulled from storefronts for a while, and developers encouraged players to download the game via official torrents. Dark and Darker was put back onto Steam as an Early Access title in June 2024, and still sees regular additions and maintenance.
[EDIT: The headline USD was correct but incorrect in the body. The piece has been updated to the correct conversion.]
Class Tuning Incoming - 26 March
Class Tuning Incoming - March 25
