Krafton May Rename Dark & Darker Mobile

Dark and Darker Mobile, the eagerly awaited smartphone adaptation of the hack 'n slash extraction dungeon crawler, is poised for a name change and more significant shifts. Recent reports indicate that Krafton is not only moving away from the current branding but also terminating its agreement with Ironmace Studio.

This development comes at a challenging time for Ironmace, who have just been mandated to pay $6 million in damages to Nexon due to an ongoing lawsuit. The core issue of the lawsuit is Nexon's claim that Ironmace, founded by former Nexon employees, utilized trade secrets to develop Dark and Darker, which is allegedly based on a cancelled project known as P3.

Despite Krafton's assertion 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 its future namesake, will proceed as a fully standalone release.

The ethical dimensions of this lawsuit are complex, and it's somewhat ironic that Ironmace initially filed a suit against Nexon for copyright infringement. Even after ending their partnership, it appears that Krafton plans to rebrand and continue with the project. This move suggests that the genre's floodgates are now open, regardless of Nexon's actions against their new adversary.

For fans eagerly awaiting Dark and Darker Mobile, this isn't necessarily negative news. Krafton is set to adhere to the previously announced global release schedule. However, should there be any changes or further developments, we will keep you informed.

We hope that the full launch of Dark and Darker Mobile will uphold the high standards we highlighted in our review.