Dark and Darker was considered one of the biggest surprise hits of recent years, but was then banned from Steam. But its return is now one step closer
Dark and Darker was one of the biggest surprise hits of 2022 and 2023: During various play tests on Steam, hundreds of thousands of players played the fantasy tarkov in which you fight your way through dark dungeons and have to escape at the end with as much loot as possible.
However, problems arose shortly before the planned release: Korean gaming giant Nexon, for whom some of the developers of Dark and Darker had previously worked, claimed that the game was based on stolen code and got the game banned from Steam in March 2023.
In the legal dispute between the game developers of Nexon and Ironmace, there is now a first triumph to report for the developers of the indie hit.
No infringement of copyright
As Ironmace has now announced via Discord, Nexon has applied for an injunction to prevent further operation of the game, which has been playable via its own launcher in Early Access for several months.
However, this was rejected by the court:
Yesterday, Nexon’s motion for a preliminary injunction against Ironmace for trade secret and copyright infringement was denied.
The court found that “Ironmace’s game does not infringe Nexon’s copyrights or trade secrets” and therefore did not accept the allegations and suspicions that Dark and Darker was developed using Nexon’s trade secrets and infringes its copyrights.
The court also found that Nexon’s allegations and evidence were insufficient to stop the operation of Dark and Darker.
By the way: If you are looking for an exciting alternative to Dark and Darker – this week Dungeonborne, another fantasy tarkov, is starting its first play test and you can try it for free on Steam:
Despite the court victory, Ironmace is dissatisfied with the course of the proceedings so far, because Nexon has not yet presented its own game, a prototype called P3, from which Ironmace allegedly stole, as evidence in court.
This is now to happen in the following main proceedings, which Ironmace is optimistic about:
A full and thorough evidentiary hearing will reveal the truth about the unfairness of Nexon’s allegations and the innocence of Ironmace.
If Ironmace is victorious there too, nothing should stand in the way of Dark and Darker’s return to Steam.
