Nexon Games: "Materials Removed Under Long-Term Plan"
There are signs that Nexon Games' undisclosed project was leaked to a competitor, prompting the police to launch an investigation. The party suspected of the leak is Dynamis One, a game company founded by the development team of 'Blue Archive.'
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Industrial Technology Security Investigation Unit conducted a search and seizure at Dynamis One's headquarters in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 24th, securing development materials and related evidence. Key personnel at Dynamis One are suspected of unauthorized removal of assets (development materials) of an undisclosed game under development during their resignation process from Nexon Games. The police are focusing their investigation on whether these materials were actually used in game development.
Dynamis One is a newly established game company founded in April last year by key developers who resigned, including CEO Park Byeong-rim, the former PD of 'Blue Archive,' as well as the scenario director and art director. In September of the same year, they revealed 'Project KV,' which sparked plagiarism controversy due to its similarity to 'Blue Archive.' Facing strong criticism, Dynamis One announced the suspension of development just eight days later.
Regarding this matter, Nexon Games issued a statement on the same day, saying, "As a result of an internal investigation, we confirmed circumstances where some personnel at Dynamis One deliberately leaked core information of the undisclosed new title 'MX BLADE' before their resignation and attempted to utilize it in the newly established corporation."
They added, "This incident is a serious crime that undermines the foundation of the game development environment, where mutual trust is absolutely essential. We will actively cooperate with the police investigation and hold those responsible strictly accountable." Furthermore, they stated, "We plan to strengthen our internal security systems to prevent recurrence."
Nexon Korea, the parent company of Nexon Games, has previously been involved in legal disputes with the new game company Ironmace. Nexon claimed that Choi, a former team leader of 'Project P3' development, leaked source code and data, then established Ironmace based on that to develop 'Dark and Darker,' filing civil and criminal lawsuits.
On the 13th, the Seoul Central District Court ruled in the first trial that Nexon's copyright infringement claims were not accepted, but ordered Ironmace to pay 8.5 billion KRW in damages related to trade secret leakage.
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