The dungeon-crawling PvPvE game Dark and Darker has been delisted from Steam after developer Ironmace was served with a cease and desist order and subsequent DMCA takedown.
As reported by Eurogamer, it appears Dark and Darker's developer, Ironmace, may be in hot water as players recently noticed some of the game's features abruptly stopped working, such as PvP and online co-op, followed by portions of its Steam page being scrubbed overnight including all trailers, screenshots, and store description.
An official statement was posted on the Dark and Darker Discord (by way of Reddit) stating, "To all our fans, we have recently been served a cease and desist letter and DMCA takedown by Nexon regarding Dark and Darker based on distorted claims."
"We are currently working with our legal team to remedy this issue in the best manner possible. Due to the sensitive legal nature of this issue we must be careful with our statements so as to not jeopardize our position," the Discord post read. "We ask for your understanding as we work to get the game back up as quickly as possible. Please know that we will do all that is possible for our fans. Thanks!"
Earlier this month, Ironmace had its offices searched by Korean officials on speculation that it might be in posession of stolen code and assets as nearly half of Ironmace's 20-person team is made up of former Nexon employees. Although, Ironmace's official statement regarding the matter was that the search was a "quick process" and "nothing was found."
As for now, the future of Dark and Darker is uncertain. Currently, there's no trace of the game's page on Steam, as searching for it will bring you to the Steam home page. However, its community message board still appears to be active, with many fans confused by the sudden delisting.
Dark and Darker was scheduled to have another public playtest period run from April 14, 2023 to April 19, 2023, but as of now, it appears that may not happen.
Matthew Adler is a Commerce, Features, Guides, News, Previews, and Reviews writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @MatthewAdler as well as check out his curated IGN Playlists.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/dark-and-darker-removed-from-steam-following-dmca-takedown
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