Police in Korea have raided the office of Dark and Darker developer Ironmace.

That's according to local publication Korea JoongAng Daily, which reports that this is in relation to allegations from Nexon that the studio had stolen both assets and staff. Police seized material related to Dark and Darker from Ironmace's office in Seongnam, Gyeonggi.

Back in August 2021, Nexon accused an employee – dubbed Leader A – of leaking data and assets during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Said member of staff was working on a new project codenamed P3 though was caught leaking files related to the game and was ultimately fired in July 2021. Months later, Ironmace was founded

Nexon claims that the studio's debut title, medieval fantasy MMO Dark and Darker, looks very similar to its game, saying that it has "striking similarities with the concept for P3 in major gameplay, rules and arts, which could not have been made independently."

“We verified that Leader A, the then-chief of the P3 project team, had leaked thousands of files including the source codes and builds, mostly related to project development, to an outside server they owned,” Nexon’s legal team wrote in an email to staff.

“We also found that Leader A had suggested to teammates of the P3 project that they quit the company and work together on a game similar to P3, citing outside investment sources and more.”