Why is dark and darker getting sued

First reported by TheGamera member of Dark and Darker developer Ironmace has stated on the game's Discord that they have achieved an early victory in staving off Maplestory publisher Nexon's copyright lawsuit, with a South Korean court dismissing the publisher's preliminary injunction. I've put a full timeline of the Dark and Darker saga below this article, but for a quick refresher: the indie hack n' slash why is dark and darker getting sued shooter was a breakout hit in the Steam Next Fest, but this victory was quickly followed by a massive legal challenge from Nexon.

Dark and Darker developer Ironmace has persuaded a US court to dismiss the lawsuit that led to the fantasy extraction game being removed from Steam. The lawsuit and Valve's decision to de-platform Dark and Darker came at a time when the PC game was seeing viral success. While Dark and Darker remains off of Steam, the dismissal of the lawsuit could open the door to the game's eventual return. But Ironmace's legal troubles may not be over. The development of Dark and Darker took influence from the work Ironmace's founders did for their previous employer, Nexon.

Why is dark and darker getting sued

So what are all these legal shenanigans about? No, not Nacon, that was a whole different legal drama. This situation has been going on since at least , when Nexon filed a legal complaint alleging that Ironmace Games had stolen code. The short version is that Nexon says that Ironmace took code and assets from a cancelled project, left, and went to make their own copy of the game they were working on. The long version? You might want to strap in for this. How many assets? But this is more than just a case of legal back and forth. Ironmace claimed that nothing had been taken but you can bet not a lot of work got done that day. But the company has posted statements to Reddit and to the Dark and Darker discord. One statement thanks, PC Gamer reads:. Most of our assets are purchased from the Unreal marketplace. All other assets and all game designs docs were created in house. This has already been audited by an outside agency.

Dark and Darker is currently in early access, and can be purchased via its own website or a competitor to Steam, Chaf Games.

If you buy something from a Polygon link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. Nexon, the publisher behind MapleStory and other online games, is embroiled in a series of legal actions against Ironmace Games, the developer of indie hit Dark and Darker. With a new lawsuit, it seems as though this convoluted conflict may be far from over. Dark and Darker is a fantasy game first made available for playtesting in

It's official - the Dark and Darker legal drama is extending into the US. Weeks after the feud went public, Korean game publisher Nexon is suing Ironmace over copyright infringement. Nexon is demanding a jury trial, and has amassed a team of lawyers to take on Ironmace, as well as two of its higher-ups are named individually in the lawsuit. This comes just as Ironmace releases a playtest for Dark and Darker via a torrent , having been booted off Steam over Nexon's initial complaints of copyright infringement. Ironmace is yet to publicly respond to this latest move, but it doesn't seem to have deterred the developer from continuing with Dark and Darker's open beta. In the lawsuit , Nexon isn't just trying to ensure Dark and Darker halts development and public distribution, but is also calling for monetary damages from Ironmace for the alleged copyright infringement. The amount the company is asking for would make up for the money it says it lost while developing its own game, codenamed P3, which it claims Ironmace stole from to make Dark and Darker. All of the pages in the lawsuit have been accessed by Onepeg, a YouTuber who has been following Dark and Darker closely.

Why is dark and darker getting sued

Dark and Darker developer Ironmace has persuaded a US court to dismiss the lawsuit that led to the fantasy extraction game being removed from Steam. The lawsuit and Valve's decision to de-platform Dark and Darker came at a time when the PC game was seeing viral success. While Dark and Darker remains off of Steam, the dismissal of the lawsuit could open the door to the game's eventual return. But Ironmace's legal troubles may not be over. The development of Dark and Darker took influence from the work Ironmace's founders did for their previous employer, Nexon. Ironmace has said repeatedly that while Nexon's Project P3 is similar in some ways to Dark and Darker , the new game is entirely separate and no copyrighted material has been used in its development.

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It seems healthy to be skeptical about its inclusion in the sequel. More on this topic Cities: Skylines 2 dev says "biggest regret" is missing mod support as it continues to fix game. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors. A lawsuit against Dark and Darker's developer has been dismissed, but only on the grounds that it should be heard in a different country. Ironmace Co. Best ultrawide monitor for gaming in the expansive panels I recommend for PC gamers. Hirun Cryer. As far as we know you cannot copyright a game genre. MMO community celebrates beloved player's release from hell after a truly filthy 2,hour Old School RuneScape grind: "I'm astounded at the sheer willpower". In making their public defense, Ironmace did a decent job showing that the alleged code similarities were largely attributable to shared resources and that the similarities between the games were all tropes of the genre. Despite legal woes, Dark and Darker finally launches into early access. Nexon, using various channels, alleges that one of their employees, without permission, moved a large volume of game project data to a private server while working from home during the pandemic. Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. Games Done Quick's Frost Fatales charity speedrunning event returns this weekend. In that case, Nexon has filed a lawsuit alleging both misappropriation of trade secrets and copyright infringement against both Ironmace and two of its founders, Ju-Hyun Choi and Terence Seungha Park.

If you're a fan of Dark and Darker , you might be aware of the lawsuit developer Ironmace are facing from Nexon Korea Corporation. The allegations are the game's code and assets were reportedly stolen from Nexon Korea Corporation, leading to quite a messy situation. The lawsuit has been sitting in the District Court, Western District of Washington, but some developments have surfaced.

Nexon hasn't commented on this development publicly. But Ironmace's legal troubles may not be over. To be clear, a creative selection can be protected by copyright. The latest video game jobs on GamesIndustry. We saw this in the Shepard Fairey case, when Fairey admitted to destroying evidence about the origins of the Obama Hope poster. It seems healthy to be skeptical about its inclusion in the sequel. Right now, the lawsuit leaves a lot of questions that will have to be answered in discovery or otherwise as the case moves forward. Much of the emphasis of the claim is on the trade secret allegations and, to that end, Nexon makes several claims that seem to be contradictory to the public defenses provided by Ironmace. The development of Dark and Darker took influence from the work Ironmace's founders did for their previous employer, Nexon. I hope, through my writing work, to settle the karmic debt I incurred by persuading my parents to buy a Mega CD. With Ironmace unable to conduct its planned playtest through Steam, the developer made the game available through torrents instead.