Dark and Darker Mobile, the eagerly anticipated smartphone version of the hack 'n slash extraction dungeon crawler, is reportedly undergoing a name change and more. Recent reports indicate that Krafton is not only dropping the current branding but also ending its agreement with Ironmace Studio.
This development comes at an unfortunate time for Ironmace, which has just been mandated to pay $6 million in damages to Nexon due to an ongoing lawsuit. The lawsuit centers on Nexon's claim that Ironmace, founded by former Nexon employees, utilized trade secrets to develop Dark and Darker, based on a cancelled project known as P3.
While Krafton has stated that the name change is unrelated to the lawsuit ruling, they have also announced the termination of their global licensing agreement with Ironmace. This means that Dark and Darker Mobile, or whatever it will be renamed, will launch as a completely standalone game.
The ethics surrounding this lawsuit are complex, and it's ironic that Ironmace initially filed a suit against Nexon for copyright infringement. Now, even after ending their partnership, Krafton seems poised to rebrand and proceed independently. This move suggests that the genre's floodgates are now open, regardless of Nexon's actions against Ironmace.
For fans eagerly awaiting Dark and Darker Mobile, this isn't necessarily negative news. Krafton is reportedly sticking to the planned global release schedule. However, should there be any changes or further developments in this saga, we will keep you updated.
We hope that the full launch of Dark and Darker Mobile will uphold the high quality we commended in our review.