Dark and Darker developer Irongate has been sued for copyright infringement by Nexon after it was taken down in the DMCA in March.
As reported by euro gamerNexon’s lawsuit highlights similarities between its own P3 and Dark and Darker, barring some Irongate employees who previously worked for Nexon from getting “Nexon’s trade secrets” straight to new developers.
The lawsuit states that “Tolerance of the defendant’s conduct threatens Nexon, the video game industry, and all consumers who enjoy sophisticated video games. If employees could simply transfer their employer’s project files to their personal servers and start a new company.
Nearly half of Irongate’s workforce is made up of former Nexon employees, but the lawsuit cites two former employees (Ju-Hyun Choi and Terence Seungha Park) who signed a one-year non-compete clause in their contracts. Only names are mentioned.
Regarding the similarities raised, Nexon notes that both games feature chests that are opened by the player character moving his hands in a circular motion, and that both games have chests that are opened by the player character’s waist. It emphasizes that it has a glowing potion worn on its belt.
The lawsuit, filed on April 14th, follows a cease-and-desist notice and DMCA removal from Nexon, resulting in Dark and Darker being removed from Steam. “We are working with our legal team to resolve this matter in the best possible way,” Irongate said at the time, adding that the deletion was “based on distorted claims.”
The situation escalated when one of the Dark and Darker development team members shared a GoFundMe page demanding $500,000 in legal fees. Irongate had planned a fundraiser for a later launch if needed, but one developer released it prematurely.
Legal issues arose shortly before Irongate planned to begin public playtesting, but with the game removed from Steam, Irongate instead released the beta via a torrent shared on Discord.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and UK news editor. He talks about witchers all day long.
