The development studio Ironmace has been accused of having stolen resources from a game cancelled of Nexon to create theirs Dark and Darker. The developers defended themselves by stating that the source code was written from scratch and that the resources used for the game were taken from the Unreal store or made internally.
Where did the suspicion arise from? The first to raise it was the Korean site This is Gamewho revealed how ironmace was formed by former Nexon developers who were fired from the company. The thesis is that Dark and Darker was developed using materials stolen from Nexon’s “P3” game, used as a kind of prototype.
Indeed the images of P3 show some resemblance to Dark and Darker:
Be that as it may, Nexon has canceled P3 in favor of P7, a survival adventure set in the present day. The founding of Ironmace dates back to the same period. From the study website it is understood that the farewell to Nexon must have been quite traumatic: “We are a merry band of veteran game developers disillusioned by the greedy exploitative practices that we also once helped create. We are experts who have worked on many of the most great successes developed in Korea.”
The presentation continues by talking about how multinational video game companies have indulged in increasingly predatory practices, turning into real casinos: “We are fighting to win back the hearts of gamers around the world.”
As specified at the beginning of the news, Ironmace has rejected the theft allegations, through the voice of the founder and CEO of the company Terence Seung-ha, who posted a long message on the game’s Discord channel in which he categorically denied that he had used P3 resources and that the originality of the game material was certified by an external company. The only element that seems to have been taken over by P3 is the genre which, as pointed out by Seung-ha, cannot be copyrighted.
It also appears that there are currently none lawsuits brought against Ironmace, but only against a single developer.
However, the Korean site YTN reported that Nexon would sue Dark and Darker for violation of the “Unfair Competition and Trade Secret Protection Act”, stating that there had been a theft of information from former employees related to a game they were playing working while they were at Nexon. Unfortunately, it is not clear whether this is the same lawsuit that Seung-ha is talking about and as of now there have been no developments.
Seung-ha also said the theft rumors were allegedly raised by third parties who weren’t exactly happy with the success and resonance of Dark and Darker. However, it will defend itself from any legal action if necessary.
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