Krafton Ends Partnership with Ironmace, Dark and Darker Mobile to be Renamed
The mobile version of the popular dungeon crawler, Dark and Darker, is facing a significant shift. Krafton, the game's publisher, has announced it's terminating its agreement with developer Ironmace Studio, resulting in a name change for the mobile adaptation.
While Krafton insists the name change is unrelated to Ironmace's recent $6 million court loss to Nexon, the timing is undeniably suspicious. Nexon's lawsuit alleges Ironmace, founded by former Nexon employees, misappropriated trade secrets from a cancelled Nexon project (codenamed P3) to develop Dark and Darker.
Despite Krafton's claims of independence, the termination of their global licensing agreement effectively makes the mobile release a fully independent project. This means Dark and Darker Mobile (or its successor) will launch under a new name and without Ironmace's direct involvement.
The irony is not lost on observers; Ironmace initially sued Nexon for copyright infringement. Now, Krafton appears poised to continue development, essentially rebranding the game. This situation opens the door for similar genre releases.
While the name change and severed partnership might seem concerning, Krafton assures fans the global launch date for the mobile game remains unchanged. However, we'll provide updates should any further developments occur. We remain hopeful the final product retains the high quality we observed in our previous review.
