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Dark and Darker delisted on Steam following cease and desist from Nexon

Ironmace and Nexon's ongoing legal dispute has led to Dark and Darker's delisting on Steam.

Donovan Erskine

March 27, 2023 10:00 AM

Ironmace Games

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Dark and Darker made some noise earlier this year when its timed demo dominated the Steam charts, with players swarming to the fantasy spin on the extraction PvP format. It wasn’t long after that breakout success that we learned that there was more than meets the eye with Dark and Darker and its developer, Ironmace Games. Publisher Nexon accused Ironmace of stealing stole code from the company and using it to build the popular new game. Now, Dark and Darker has been delisted from Steam following a cease and desist from Nexon.

Over the weekend, Dark and Darker was delisted from Steam. According to a report from PC Gamer, this is due to a cease and desist and DMCA from Nexon. Earlier this month, Ironmace Games’ office was raided after Nexon accused the company of stealing code and using it to create the game. Ironmace was founded by former developers at Nexon, and they’ve made it very clear that the two sides did not separate on good terms. It’s also been said that Nexon was working on a project similar to what Darker and Darker ended up becoming, but scrapped it.

While Dark and Darker hasn’t been playable since its last playtest ended in February, the game’s Steam page and assets had still been available to view on the platform. Over the last couple of days, those assets were pulled, and then the game was eventually pulled altogether.

While the studio assured fans that there was “nothing to worry about” after the Nexon news came out earlier this month, Ironmace Games has yet to provide a statement on Dark and Darker’s delisting. If there are any updates to the situation, we’ll be sure to update this article.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_