Dark and Darkerdeveloper Ironmace hasn’t had a particularly good time over the past couple of years. First, it had to deal with a legal dispute with a publisher called Nexon, which claimed thatthe title was using stolen assets from a game that it had canceled. Ironmace is made up of former Nexon employees, and was essentially accused of absconding with stolen assets and using them to develop Dark and Darker.
Ironmace denied the accusations, but the entire legal disputebriefly pulled Dark and Darker from Steam,only for it to return to the platform a year later. Its woes weren’t over there though, as a court decision earlier this year led to Dark and Darker being removed from sale on the Epic Game Store, and three months later, the game is now being pulled from the store entirely.
Dark And Darker Removed From Epic Games Store Amidst Legal Dispute
Ironmace informed fansvia email and a statement via the official Discord earlier todaythat the game is being pulled. It claims that Epic Games made the decision following a claim made by the “opposing party in the ongoing legal dispute”, which is a roundabout way of saying Nexon. It claims to have no idea why the game is being delisted, and is “working to understand the exact reasoning” behind the removal.
Not only that, but Epic Game Store has informed Dark and Darker players that it willalso be removed from the libraries of Epic Game Store customers on November 1. Thankfully, Epic has confirmed that everyone who purchased the “Legendary Status” upgrade will be eligible for refunds, but refunds will not be issued for Redstone Shards that have already been purchased.
At the time of writing, we have no news on how this court decision will affect the game’s Steam listing, as everything appears to be functioning as normal. However, it would be odd for the game to be removed completely from the Epic Game Store and not Steam, so if you were planning on buying Dark and Darker any time soon, you may want to wait until it’s confirmed the game will still exist on the platform in a few months' time.
