Dark and Darkerwas delisted from the Epic Games Store on July 24, 2025, but Epic has now notified owners that they’ll lose access to the game entirely on November 1.
In an email sent on July 10, 2025, the Epic Games Store team informedDark and Darkerowners that the game will be removed from their personal libraries on July 21, 2025, meaning it will no longer be playable through Epic’s launcher.
This news follows the game’s earlier delisting from the Epic Games Store, but this latest move takes things a step further, completely wiping the “Escape from Tarkov meets fantasy” title from the storefront and user access altogether.
In addition, players can no longer purchase Redstone Shards (the game’s premium currency) or the Legendary Status upgrade. Refunds will be issued for those who purchased the Legendary Status, but not for Redstone Shards—though any remaining shards can still be used until the game becomes inaccessible.
In the email sent by Epic, the team cites a court decision in South Korea involving Nexon andDark and Darker’spublisher, IRONMACE, as the reason for revoking access. However, they offered no additional context, andaccording to IRONMACE, the studio itself is unclear on the exact rationale behind Epic’s move.
Dark and Darkerhas been entangled in legal troubles since February 2023, when Nexon accused the game of bearing a striking resemblance to a project they had in development. Nexon alleged that a former team leader, now at IRONMACE, had stolen assets, copyrighted material, and trade secrets from their internal prototype.
The situation escalated quickly: Nexon issued a cease-and-desist letter, leading to the game’s removal on Steam. IRONMACE pushed back, and after the case was dismissed in U.S. courts,Dark and Darkereventually returned to the platform.
Still, the legal trouble isn’t over. In February 2025, a court in Seoul ruled that while IRONMACE had not infringed on Nexon’s copyrights, it had violated trade secret laws and was ordered to pay ₩8.5 billion in damages.
As of this writing,Dark and Darkerremains available on Steam, which raises questions about why Epic has decided to revoke access while Valve has not.
While this is certainly a unique case, it serves as a stark reminder that in many instances, you don’t truly “own” your digital games. This has been a key point of concern ever since the industry began shifting from physical to digital distribution, and here we see that fear being realized. Even if you paid forDark and Darkerthrough the Epic Games Store, you’ll soon lose access to it completely.
There are ways to better ensure ownership, such as purchasing DRM-free titles through GOG. But on mainstream storefronts like Epic or Steam, publishers and platforms can, and evidently sometimes do, revoke access to games you’ve paid for. That’s not something gamers had to worry about in the days of physical media.
While this sort of situation is unlikely to become routine, it still sets a disturbing precedent.
