Webzen and Hound13, which have been in conflict over the mobile game "Dragonsword," have entered a legal dispute.
According to the game industry on the 21st, Webzen filed a lawsuit the previous day with the Seoul Central District Court seeking confirmation of the publishing contract for Dragonsword against Hound13 and also applied for an injunction to bar self-publishing.
On the same day, Webzen said on the official Dragonsword website, "Hound13's recent preparation for a Steam release that became known externally is being carried out unilaterally without any prior agreement," adding, "As the publisher, Webzen has urged the developer to normalize domestic game service, but the developer only conveyed a position that, instead of providing additional support for domestic service, it would prepare a Steam service."
It added, "We will resolve the dispute in accordance with legal procedures and continue efforts to secure a stable game service environment."
Dragonsword was released on Jan. 21, but soon after was pushed out of the top revenue rankings on major app markets, posting results that fell short of expectations.
In February, a month after launch, Hound13 notified termination of the publishing contract, saying Webzen had not paid the minimum guarantee (MG). Webzen countered that the termination had been unilaterally disclosed externally without the conditions for termination being met. Webzen later paid the remaining MG and continued the service.
As the conflict between the two sides continued, Hound13 opened a "Dragonsword: Awakening" page on the PC platform Steam this month and said it would convert the existing game into a single-player package and release it in July.