Dark and Darker developers face allegations of stealing assets from previous workplace

Ironmace, the developer behind upcoming PvPvE fantasy game Dark and Darker has faced accusations that some of its employees stole assets from Japanese publisher Nexon.

Nexon claims that it once employed some who now work at Ironmace, and that those employees were working on a title called P3. It is alleged that those now working at Ironmace stole those assets from P3 before leaving to make Dark and Darker, and have used these assets to help create the upcoming game.

If this proves to be true, Nexon could pursue legal action as this would mean the Ironmace employees had broken confidentiality agreements and trade laws. However, Ironmace CEO Terence Seung-ha has denied these claims.

"I want to address certain rumors that have started to circulate and reassure Dark and Darker fans," Seung-ha said on the game's Discord server. "ABSOLUTELY NO stolen assets or code were used to make our game. Our code was built from scratch. Most of our assets are purchased from the Unreal marketplace. All other assets and all game designs docs were created inhouse. This has already been audited by an outside agency. As far as we know you cannot copyright a game genre. Regarding the lawsuit, we consider it a separate personal matter claimed on one of our team members. No lawsuit has been filed against Ironmace."

Dark and Darker was recently made available in a new playtest, and has attracted hundreds of eyes even before then.

Are you looking forward to Dark and Darker?