Dark and Darker will be purged from Epic Games Store libraries later this year, but it's still available on Steam for now

Three months after removing Dark and Darker from sale, Epic Games is going a step further to erase any trace of its existence on the Epic Games Store: An email being sent to owners says Epic will remove the PvPvE dungeon crawler Dark and Darker from their libraries on November 1. Refunds will be issued to anyone who purchased the "Legendary Status" upgrade, but refunds for the Redstone Shards premium currency will not be offered.

"We removed Dark and Darker from sale on the Epic Games Store on March 5 in consideration of a court decision in Korea between Nexon and the game's publisher, Ironmace," the message states. "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."

The "court decision" in the message refers to a February 2025 finding that Ironmace did not commit copyright infringement against Nexon, but did infringe on Nexon's trade secrets. Nexon had accused the studio of building Dark and Darker on assets and code "stolen" from a similar project, codenamed P3, which it cancelled in 2021. Ironmace is now on the hook for nearly $6 million.

Epic confirmed that the email, which is being shared on Reddit and social media, is legit, and provided a copy of the message to PC Gamer.

Removing a game from sale is one thing, but pulling it from libraries of existing owners is something else entirely, and an unusual step: More typically, games on digital storefronts that are removed from sale remain available to owners. Epic didn't go into detail about why it's taking this extra step, only saying that the removal was prompted by Korea's court decision.

For now, Dark and Darker remains available on Steam, free and with the same "Legendary Status" upgrade option that was previously also offered on the Epic Store. Some Steam players have expressed concerns that Dark and Darker will be removed from libraries on that storefront as well, which I suppose possible (especially if the Epic takedown was the result of some new, as-yet-unannounced court ruling) but seems unlikely, given that the game is still up for grabs. I've reached out to Epic and Ironmace for more information and will update if I receive a reply.