Ironmace to pay Nexon $5.9 million for trade secret infringement in Dark and Darker case

It looks like a legal dispute between Nexon and Ironmace Games has finally been settled. The Dark and Darker developer will have to pay monetary compensation to the South Korean publisher.

• On February 13, The Seoul Central District Court sided with Nexon, finding that Ironmace illegally used data from an unannounced game codenamed Project P3 during the development of its extraction dungeon crawler Dark and Darker.
• According to ChosunBiz, the studio must pay the publisher ₩8.5 billion ($5.9 million) for trade secret infringement.
• However, the court ruled that Ironmace didn’t violate Nexon’s copyright, meaning the team would be able to continue developing and operating the game.

Nexon initially filed a lawsuit against the studio in April 2023, accusing it of stealing the source code of Project P3 and calling for the team to stop the further development of Dark and Darker. Ironmace founders worked P3 before it was scrapped in 2021, so the corporation suspected them of using assets and other important data for their own game.

As a result, Dark and Darker was also pulled from sale on Steam over potential copyright infringement.  In 2024, the court ruled that the game’s service shouldn’t be suspended. Ironmace eventually managed to release the game on the platform last year, also partnering with Krafton to develop a mobile version.

The studio didn’t disclose Dark and Darker’s sales or other figures following its global launch. According to Gamalytic, the game has generated over $13 million in gross revenue on Steam alone (it is also available through its official website and the Epic Games Store).