(From left) Park Seung-ha, President of Ironmace, and Choi Joo-hyun, Representative / Courtesy of Ironmace

Ironmace, which is involved in a copyright lawsuit with Nexon, replaced its executives ahead of the appeals court hearing.

On the 16th, Ironmace announced that it appointed its co-founder and director of the representative work 'Dark and Darker,' Choi Joo-hyun, as the CEO. The previous CEO, Park Seung-ha, was appointed as president.

The company noted, "We restructured our management for organizational efficiency and sustainable growth," adding, "Ironmace will enhance expertise in each field to flexibly respond to changes in the global gaming market."

The new CEO, Choi, will oversee the company's overall management and internal organizational operation. Choi has previously worked at Nexon Korea, Smilegate, and Thingsoft, participating in major projects such as 'KartRider,' 'Curares: Magic Library,' and 'Tango Five.'

The new president, Park, is a veteran developer with over 20 years in the online gaming industry, having successfully led numerous game development projects at NEOWIZ, Thingsoft, and others. He will lead communications with global users and partners and focus on brand expansion.

Ironmace is currently embroiled in a legal dispute with Nexon. Nexon has filed civil and criminal lawsuits, claiming that the new CEO, who worked as the Head of Team for the development project 'P3,' unlawfully leaked game source code and various data to a personal server before founding Ironmace and creating 'Dark and Darker.'

The Seoul Central District Court ruled in the first instance of the civil lawsuit decided in March that while Ironmace did not infringe on Nexon's copyright, it must compensate 8.5 billion won for the breach of trade secrets.

Ironmace and Nexon both filed appeals, and the first hearing of the second instance is scheduled for the 17th.

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