Indie Game Devs Behind “Dark and Darker” Seek Donations for Legal Battle with Nexon – New developments…

Ironmace, the small team of developers behind the critically acclaimed indie game Dark and Darker find themselves in legal turmoil after receiving a cease and desist letter and a DMCA takedown notice from gaming company Nexon. The Dark and Darker development team believe the claims made by Nexon are distorted, and the Dark and Darker development team are now working with their legal counsel to address the claims raised by Nexon.

Dark and Darker is an immersive and challenging first-person fantasy dungeon adventure game, offering players the chance to explore the treacherous depths of an ancient citadel. Players must collaborate to find hidden treasures, outwit other treasure hunters, defeat menacing monsters, and ultimately escape the ever-encroaching darkness.

Given the financial strain of this legal predicament, Luci, a team member, of the official Dark and Darker Discord, initiated a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the associated legal costs and ensure the continued development of Dark and Darker.

Update (3/31/23 – 6pm PST): Here’s the official statement from the Discord:

This morning an announcement was posted regarding a GoFundMe link to support Ironmace.
The GoFundMe link is legitimate, however it was to be used later if necessary.
It was posted this morning without approval due to a passionate member of the team taking matters into his own hands.
We have currently paused the campaign for now as it was prematurely announced.
We appreciate the enormous amount of support shown in such a little amount of time!
We are very sorry for the confusion and will take the proper steps to resolve this within the next few hours.
We will make another announcement on how the GoFundMe will be handled.
Thank you all very much!

Update: According to the Discord, it now appears that it was a legitimate GoFundMe, but it was reported enough that it was automatically removed from the website. The Dark and Darker Discord has said that an official announcement is coming soon.

However, it has come to light that there is a question of legitimacy about the GoFundMe as admitted that others involved in Dark and Darker were not aware of the announcement and creation of the fundraiser, which has since been taken offline (after raising nearly $50,000 of the $500K goal).

Some are suggesting that the Luci account is compromised and it was not any Dark and Darker representative posting at all.

Here’s the full statement from the official Dark and Darker Discord that originally announced the fundraising attempt:

Ima be honest with you guys. Terence and sdf aren’t aware that I’m making this post, but I am going to regardless. The least I can do is give you guys the truth of what’s going on. I’ve watched sdf and Terry bust their ass everyday for the past year to create this game for all of us. When we first opened shop, we literally had nothing. Through the cold winter our dev team was working overnight shifts in the office with sleeping bags and no heat simply because this project is not our job, it’s our passion. Having the opportunity to touch the lives of millions of gamers with a game that makes them happy and might help them through a stressful day is our dream. You guys are our motivation and always will be.

We aren’t a big ass studio, and we don’t have an infinite supply of money like Nexon. The reality of the situation is that their end goal is to bleed us dry in court fees. Internally, we know this, they know this, the lawyers know this. They have no real case that will hold up in court but they pray that we fold. Our concern is not the false claims that they have weasled up and fed to every media outlet. Our game was made from scratch. But we are concerned about being able to support ourselves through this legal battle that they want to drag us through.

So I am coming to you guys to ask for help and support to get us through this bullshit. Terence and sdf are stressed the fuck out because we don’t know if we’ll be able to sustain a long term legal battle even with the truth on our side. If we have the funding to defend ourselves in court, we will make it through this and we WILL create the games that gamers around the world have wanted for such a long time but haven’t had in recent years.

In Nexons most recent copy-paste MMORPG, they literally named the tutorial boss “Leader of Silver Sun – Terence”, to try and mock us and the situation we’re dealing with. They can mock us, but they aren’t going to take Dark and Darker away from you guys.

I’ve set up a gofundme that you guys can donate to here to support us in our battle. Any donation given will be used to fund our legal battle against Nexon and fund our development team to continue working on our game: https://gofund.me/41303667

Thank you to all of our fans and content creators like Moistcritikal that have kept it real through all of this. We will make it through for you guys.

In an alleged display of defiance, Nexon supposedly included a mocking reference to the Dark and Darker team in their latest MMORPG, naming a tutorial boss (“Leader of Silver Sun – Terence”) after one of the developers. The Dark and Darker team is determined to stand strong and continue providing their loyal fans with the immersive gaming experience they have come to expect.

We will continue to follow this story closely and add developments as they come along, especially if we can confirm whether Luci’s account was, in fact, compromised or if it was a legitimate statement on behalf of the Dark and Darker team.