South Korean Court Dismisses Nexon’s Injunction Request Against Dark And Darker

Dark and Darker may soon be making its way back to Steam as the South Korean court dismisses Nexon’s motion for a preliminary injunction as part of its copyright infringement lawsuit against the game’s developer, Ironmace.

This DOES NOT mean that the lawsuit has been settled, just one of victory, albiet a small one, for Iron Mace. Nexon had asked the court for an injunction, which would prevent Iron Mace from selling Dark and Darker in South Korea. That has been dismissed, which means Dark and Darker will soon be available for sale in South Korea.

Many news outlets have reported this as a slam dunk victory for Iron Mace, but the actual court ruling clarified that there the main issues have not been resolved and that it appears that there are a lot of similarities between the games.

Nexon filed the lawsuit in April 2023 claiming that the hardcore first-person dungeon crawler was developed using stolen source code from a previously scrapped game called Project P3, which Ironmace had been working on before it evolved into a modern survival game called Project P7, a claim that the latter vehemently denied. This was a few weeks after the game was delisted from Steam due to Nexon’s earlier DMCA complaint.

Ironmace developer SDF broke the news on Discord saying that, “Nexon’s request for a preliminary injunction against Ironmace for trade secret and copyright infringement was dismissed. The court ruled that ‘Ironmace’s game cannot be viewed as infringing on Nexon's copyright or trade secrets’, thus rejecting the claims and suspicions that Dark and Darker was developed by using Nexon’s trade secrets and infringing on its copyrights. It wasn’t. In addition, the court ruled that Dark & Darker’s service should not be suspended based on Nexon's claims and evidence alone.”

SDF, however, admits that the decision was disappointing because they weren’t able to officially clear their name. Apparently, Nexon didn’t even bother to submit Project P3 as evidence, despite claims that Ironmace stole P3’s source code. According to the dev, one of the reasons why the motion was dismissed is because of the need for further examination of evidence which would happen when and if the lawsuit proceeds to trial.

This is just Iron Mace's side of the story though. Nexon has also claimed that Iron Mace NEVER shared their source code for any court to review. So it looks like neither side was willing to show their code.

“[…] A sufficient and thorough investigation of evidence is conducted in the main lawsuit [will reveal] the truth about the unfairness of Nexon's claims and the innocence of Ironmace,” SDF said. He also thanked players on behalf of Ironmace for their support, promising that they’ll do their best to developer Dark and Darker into “a solid game that can be serviced for more than 10 years.”

While Dark and Darker isn't available on Steam, it's still playable worldwide (excluding South Korea) through its own dedicated launcher. It’s also available for purchase through the official website and Chaf Games’ digital storefront.

Nexon has yet to issue a statement on the matter.