Dark and Darker developer Ironmace says it is spending thousands of Dark And Darker Gold dollars a day to keep the playtest running, despite no longer being able to make any money from Steam. This also comes after the games GoFundMe was taken down, raising concerns over how long development can sustain itself.

It also comes as Ironmace finds itself with an even greater need for some revenue, with Nexon suing the studio in the United States. Now, with previously promised playtests and the ensuing hotfixes being sent out via torrents, its not clear how the developers plan to proceed finacially.

This comes from a comment from an Ironmace developer, going by the username Graysun. It was spotted by Reddit user Zan-Zuri over on the Dark and Darker subreddit, and worries fans that Ironmace deciding to launch the playtest without access to Steam was a mistake.

The comment came in response to a fan asking how the developers were making money on the game if it wasnt on Steam. Judging by Graysuns reply, it would seem that the studio is simply not making money, or at least not enough to cover the costs of the servers.

As many have highlighted in the subreddit, keeping the Dark And Darker Gold for sale servers running would still cost the devs money if the game was on Steam. However, the big difference is that it would be much easier to monetise, particularly through early access and pre-orders.