Dark And Darker Pulled From Steam Due To Allegations Of Stolen Code
Dark and Darker, a first-person PvPvE dungeon crawler from South Korean developer Ironmace, was de-listed from Steam earlier this week due to allegations that its code was stolen from one of Nexon’s upcoming titles, codenamed Project P3.
Project P3 was first announced in August 2021 as a medieval fantasy game but eventually evolved into one with modern weapons and survival mechanics and renamed Project P7. Nexon claims that the unannounced game’s developers left to form Ironmace and continued to develop Project P3 into Dark and Darker. The studio also accused Ironmace of shopping for investors
Nexon subsequently filed a DMCA complaint which led to the game being pulled from Steam. The studio also served Ironmace with a cease and desist letter. Rumors also claim that Ironmace’s studios were raided by South Korean police in search of items related to Project P3.
Ironmace responded to the DMCA takedown with the following statement on Discord:
“To all our fans, we have recently been served a cease and desist letter and DMCA takedown by Nexon regarding Dark and Darker based on distorted claims,” the studio said. “We are currently working with our legal team to remedy this issue in the best manner possible. Due to the sensitive legal nature of this issue we must be careful with our statements as to not jeopardize our position. We ask for your understanding as we work to get the game back up as quickly as possible. Please know that we will do all that is possible for our fans. Thanks!”
Fans of the game also responded by review bombing Nexon’s games on Steam, particularly MapleStory. Whether the allegations are true or not, however, remains to be seen as the newest MMO legal drama unfolds.
