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Epic Games has just announced a significant change for players of the beloved dungeon crawler, Dark and Darker. Mark your calendars—on November 1, 2025, the game will be removed from players’ libraries. This bold move comes in the wake of a legal battle between the game’s publisher, Ironmace, and Nexon, a prominent South Korean video game company. To put things into perspective, the game was initially pulled from the Epic Games Store on March 5, 2025, amid serious concerns over copyright infringement and trade secrets.
What You Need to Know About the Removal
So, what’s next for players who have already purchased Dark and Darker? Expect an email notification soon, outlining the removal process. According to Epic’s official statement, players will receive refunds for the “Legendary Status” upgrade, but not for the premium currency known as Redstone Shards. Epic Games has made it clear: “On November 1, 2025, we will be removing Dark and Darker from your library, at which point it will no longer be playable via the Epic Games Store.” This announcement has raised eyebrows across the gaming community, as it’s quite rare for digital storefronts to revoke access to games that players have already purchased. Isn’t that a concern for all digital game owners?
The Legal Battle Explained
To understand the gravity of the situation, we need to dive into the legal intricacies. This removal is a direct result of a court ruling in Korea, where Nexon accused Ironmace of developing Dark and Darker using assets and code from a scrapped project known as P3. While the court ultimately found no evidence of copyright infringement, it did determine that Ironmace had indeed violated Nexon’s trade secrets. Consequently, Ironmace faces a hefty financial penalty of nearly $6 million. This legal backdrop has put Dark and Darker under a magnifying glass, raising questions about its future across various platforms.
Current Availability and Community Reactions
As of now, Dark and Darker is still available on Steam, where it continues to be a free-to-play title with the same upgrade options. However, players on that platform are understandably worried about what this might mean for their access in the future. Is this the beginning of a trend? Currently, there hasn’t been any word from Steam regarding potential changes, but we’ll keep you updated if we hear anything new.
This unfolding situation raises some critical questions about digital ownership and consumer rights in the gaming industry. In a time where legal disputes can have drastic implications for players, the prospect of having games wiped from libraries is a rare but worrying occurrence. Could this set a precedent for future actions by digital storefronts? Only time will tell.