Dark and Darker developer Ironmace has denied allegations that the game uses stolen assets and code Dark And Darker Gold , saying in a statement on Discord that all of Dark and Darker's code was "built from scratch," and its assets were either purchased from the Unreal marketplace or designed internally.
The claim that Dark and Darker uses stolen assets and code first appeared on Korean site This is Game (Google translated), which said that developer Ironmace includes former employees of Nexon who were "disciplined and fired" by Nexon, and are now building Dark and Darker using materials they worked on while at Nexon. A Nexon project revealed in 2021 as "P3" was basically used as a prototype of Dark and Darker, according to the claim, and images from Project P3 definitely have a certain proto-Dark and Darker look to them.
Later in 2021, Nexon changed course to a different project, P7, a contemporary survival adventure. Around the same time, Ironmace was founded, at least in part by former Nexon employees. Ironmace's website suggests that they did not part on the happiest of terms.
"We are a merry band of veteran game developers disillusioned by the exploitative and greedy practices we once helped create," it says. "We are experts who have worked on many of the biggest hits in Korea.
"We’ve seen first hand how corporate game companies sell their soul for the easy payday. We are disappointed to see them doubling down on more and more exploitative practices buy Dark And Darker Gold , becoming more like casinos instead of bringing joy to gamers."
