Although Krafton claimed to be monitoring Ironmace’s legal proceedings, it appears that the company decided not to wait to sign a Dark and Darker contract.
There is no way of knowing when or even if the sleeper hit PvP dungeon crawler Dark and Darker will be reinstated due to the legal disagreement between Ironmace, the game’s creator, and Nexon. Therefore, I was a little taken aback to learn that Krafton, the publisher of PUBG: Battlegrounds, is in fact working on a smartphone version of the game.
(Image: Dark and darker)
Rafael Lim, senior head of publishing at Krafton, remarked, “We’ve been watching Dark and Darker’s potential and distinctive creativity with great interest.” “Dark and Darker, with its current PC release, touched upon something fascinating from the genre to the setting of the whole IP. Our team at Krafton is eager to offer these thrilling dungeon adventures with a brand-new group of fans on mobile.
It seems like Krafton might be a nice fit for this project: It already has a few mobile games under its belt, most notably PUBG Mobile, which has some general parallels to Dark and Darker. The deal still surprises some because of Ironmace’s, to put it mildly, convoluted legal position.
(Image: Dark and darker)
Since the publisher was accused of utilizing resources from a scrapped Nexon project to create Dark and Darker, Ironmace and Nexon have been at odds over the game. In response to Nexon’s legal action in March, Ironmace used BitTorrent to disseminate a playtest client, which turned out to be somewhat of a PR victory for the company. Dark and Darker’s early access version was made accessible by the studio in August via its website and the digital marketplace Chaf Games, but it is still not available on Steam, which is a major issue for a new game that is seeking to gain popularity.
It’s difficult for a third party to become involved in that circumstance, and I have to wonder if Krafton may end up forfeiting both the license and the money it paid for it if Nexon wins the legal battle. It’s likely that Krafton is desperate enough for the license to take a chance, and it could also have been encouraged by Ironmace’s recent victory in court: Nexon’s copyright suit in the US was rejected earlier this month because the judge in the case decided that South Korea would be the best place for it to be decided. Nexon had contended that the trial should take place in the US “because Korean courts are powerless to compel the production of certain evidence.”
(Image: Dark and darker)
However, Krafton acknowledged that it is aware of Ironmace’s delicate legal condition and declined to comment on why it decided to purchase the license at this time. A Krafton representative informed PC Gamer, “Regarding legal matters, Krafton is monitoring the judicial decisions as a third party.”
Therefore, it seems doubtful that you will play Dark and Darker on Steam very soon. However, on your phone? Okay, perhaps. There is no set date for when Dark and Darker will be available on mobile devices.
