PC game Dark & ​​Darker accused of plagiarism has been removed from Steam

surrounding controversy darker and darkeran MMO accused of stealing not only assets but also employees from Korean publisher Nexon, escalated over the weekend when the game was removed from Steam.

As we previously reportedAnd darker and darker– a fantasy MMO it was supposed To go into Early Access in April – It’s being developed by Ironmace, a team made up mostly of ex-Nexon employees, and it’s in the same genre as p. 3a title several of them had been working on at Nexon (which has since been scrapped) before jumping ship.

as a result of, A few weeks ago Nixon complained and the police raided Ironmass’ office:

Nixon’s lawyers say darker and darker It has striking similarities with the concept p. 3 in the rules of play and master arts, which cannot be made independently”, and that as a result of the alleged theft “their game could not see the light of day because of the unethical actions of their former teammates”.

After this raid, Nexon filed a DMCA strike darker and darker, which resulted in the game being removed from Steam. the demand, Available to the public hereHe says:

Nexon has learned that IRONMACE Co., Ltd. (“Ironmace”) makes unauthorized use of Nexon’s trade secrets and copyrighted material as detailed below. This letter is to inform you of Ironmace’s misconduct, which constitutes misappropriation of Nexon trade secrets and copyright infringement, and to request that Valve remove all versions of Dark and Darker from Steam.

In response to the delisting processIronmace released a statement on the game’s Discord saying:

To all of our fans, we recently received a cease and desist letter and DMCA revocation by Nexon regarding Dark and Darker based on distorted allegations. We are currently working with our legal team to address this issue in the best way possible. Given the sensitive legal nature of this issue, we must be careful with our statements so as not to jeopardize our position. We ask for your understanding as we work to get the game back as soon as possible. Please know that we will do everything possible for our fans. Thanks!

followed longer explanationwhich addresses specific Nexon claims (such as access to Nexon servers by developers working from home and the similarities between Dark and dark Storyline P3) which ends with:

Given the information provided, it’s hard to believe that Nexon, in good faith, could reasonably believe that Ironmace infringed their copyrights. P3 project. Nor does it provide any actual evidence that Ironmace misappropriated Nexon’s trade secret information at its inception darker and darker, but instead base it on circumstantial claims. Finally, they accuse Ironmace of flagrantly breaching Valve’s SSA and SOCR, limiting our ability to provide our game to players on the largest mainstream computer game platform and severely hindering our ability to do business. Ironmace asks Nexon to drop her unsubstantiated allegations. If they wish to compete on merit, Nexon is welcome to accommodate the comparison of source code, custom assets, and design documents with the police to quickly and decisively bring this matter to an end.