Dark and Darker developer Ironmace raided by Korean police
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Police raided Dark and Darker creator Ironmace earlier this week, seizing company material related to the game.
Korea JoongAng Daily reported the raid took place on Tuesday at Ironmace's office in Seongnam, Gyeonggi.
A user claiming to be an Ironmace employee wrote on Discord the next day, saying that the process went quickly and the police did not find what they were looking for.
The raid follows allegations from Korean games giant Nexon, which has accused the studio of stealing game assets and even personnel. Ironmace has denied these allegations.
Ironmace was founded in October 2021 by Park Sueng-ha, a former Nexon employee that has been working on a project known as P3.
The person in charge of that project, identified only as Leader A, was fired in July 2021 for leaking thousands of files related to P3.
According to Korea JoongAng Daily, half of the 20-person team that was working on P3, including Leader A, now works at Ironmace.
Nexon has claimed Ironmace's medieval MMO Dark and Darker has "striking similarities with the concept for P3 in major gameplay, rules and arts, which could not have been made independently."
Nexon reported Leader A in August 2021 for leaking company data and assets while working remotely during the pandemic.
The police turned the case to the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office in August 2022, which demanded the police find more evidence in December.
Korea JoongAng Daily shared a message from Nexon that was issued to employees on Wednesday, saying it had verified Leader A leaking thousands of files, including source codes and builds.
"We also found that Leader A had suggested to teammates of the P3 project
Read more on gamesindustry.biz
