South Korean PUBG publisher Krafton has officially closed a licence agreement with developer Ironmace for a mobile adaptation of the original IP Dark and Darker.

The deal was closed last week and secures Krafton’s right to an exclusive, global licence for the mobile game adaptation.

Dark and Darker’s mobile iteration may find itself in Bluehole Studio’s pipeline – an option currently under consideration at Krafton, with Bluehole among the independent studios under its umbrella. Even in this case, the PUBG publisher is intent on using its expertise in the space to bring this title to mobile gamers everywhere.

An original IP

The original Dark and Darker was developed in Unreal Engine 4 and released on Steam. A multiplayer game in a medieval fantasy setting, the game fuses dungeon crawler, survival and battle royale elements. Following its global market success and with the status of a new, original IP, Krafton has taken note of Dark and Darker’s accomplishments.

"We strongly respect various evaluations from the global fans to the original IP. In addition, we hope that the potential of the original IP that had shown a new possibility in the global market will continue to live on," said Krafton senior head of the publishing business division Rafael Lim.

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Dark and Darker though, with claims that Ironmace stole the game’s code leading to its ultimate removal from Steam. Though refuting the claims, Ironmace was raided by Korean police who seized materials relating to the game. According to GamesIndustry.biz, Krafton intends to remain a third party in regards to a legal battle.

After Krafton saw a 28% decline in revenue in its second quarter this year, perhaps a Dark and Darker iteration will help bolster its future figures. So too could its new deep learning-focused, AI development studio ReLU Games.