The role-playing game Dark and Darker targeted in lawsuit
The role-playing game Dark and Darker and its developer Ironmace were removed from Steam in March and are now facing a lawsuit from Korean publisher Nexon for copyright infringement. Nexon claims that Dark and Darker was created using assets and materials that Ironmace developers worked on during their employment at Nexon. Ironmace has denied any wrongdoing so far.
On April 14th, Nexon filed a lawsuit with the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. The publisher accuses Ironmace of a number of allegations and is seeking damages for the "theft of the video game project 'P3 Project' by the defendants". Allegedly, former members of Ironmace worked on a game under the working title P3 at Nexon and used some materials from it in the development of Dark and Darker.
The Allegations in Detail
According to court documents, "The Defendants used these materials to develop a video game substantially similar to P3 called Dark and Darker, which the Defendants seek to distribute through their newly-formed company, Ironmace. Nexon brings this action to prevent the Defendants from continuing to profit from their wrongful acts, including the distribution of Dark and Darker and elsewhere."
The lawsuit names specific Ironmace employees who were previously employed by Nexon. The lawsuit describes a one-year contract clause that "prevents employees from engaging in any industry that could potentially harm Nexon's trade secrets without prior consent from Nexon."
Nexon's Demands and Comparison with Other Games
Nexon is seeking financial compensation and damages in an unspecified amount. The publisher claims that allowing the Defendants to continue could endanger Nexon, the video game industry, and all consumers who enjoy sophisticated video games.
A report from Eurogamer features images from the lawsuit obtained by YouTuber 'Onepeg'. These images compare concept art and screenshots from P3 with Dark and Darker, as well as characters developed by Dungeons and Dragons developer Wizards of the West Coast.
The goal appears to be to show that the generic fantasy game characters in Dark and Darker resemble those in P3 and differ from other companies' interpretations of the same archetypes.
