Prosecutors indict Ironmace CEO for allegedly stealing Nexon's development secrets
Published: 03 Feb. 2026, 14:05
![An image from Ironmace's game Dark and Darker [IRONMACE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/02/03/2e5bcd55-a21f-445e-9474-50d29428b829.jpg)
An image from Ironmace's game Dark and Darker [IRONMACE]
Prosecutors indicted the head of the game startup Ironmace and two former Nexon employees without detention over the alleged theft and use of Nexon’s game development secrets, authorities said on Monday.
Besides the two ex-employees and Ironmace’s CEO, surnamed Choi, who also worked at Nexon, the defendants include the startup itself, according to the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office’s Seongnam branch.
Choi and the two employees allegedly leaked key confidential materials — including original files and source code from an unreleased project known as “P3” — from Nexon when they left the game company between 2021 and 2023.
The defendants then jointly founded Ironmace and released the online game Dark and Darker, which generated more than 50 billion won ($35 million) in revenue.
The prosecution confirmed that Nexon’s development secrets were directly used in Ironmace’s establishment and the game’s development process, and that the defendants extracted the confidential materials shortly before resigning from Nexon and establishing the competing company.
Ironmace has denied the allegations, saying that it did not use “leaked materials to develop [Dark and Darker],” but prosecutors stated that they have secured evidence showing portions of the leaked source code were used in the production of Dark and Darker.
The criminal case is separate from an ongoing civil lawsuit between Nexon and Ironmace.
On Dec. 2, 2025, an appellate court ruled that Ironmace infringed on Nexon’s trade secrets and ordered the defendant to pay about 5.7 billion won in damages. The court, however, rejected Nexon’s copyright infringement claim.
Both sides have appealed the ruling and await a final decision from the Supreme Court.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KO SEUNG-PYO [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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