The Seoul Central District Court has dismissed game publisher Webzen’s injunction request to block the release of open-world RPG DragonSword: Awakening, as announced by developer Hound13 on July 22 (source: Inven Global). The game is on track to launch via Steam as soon as it passes Valve’s final app review.
DragonSword: Awakening is a standalone, self-published game by Hound13 rebuilt from the studio’s free-to-play game DragonSword, which originally launched in January 2026 in South Korea. This live-service version had been briefly published by Webzen, which is where the legal dispute between the publisher and developer originates from.
Around a month after the original DragonSword released, Hound13 announced that it would terminate its publishing deal with Webzen due to the publisher failing to pay the minimum guarantee stipulated by the contract. Subsequently, the developers revealed plans to overhaul the game as a full-priced RPG without gacha systems and release it on Steam.
Webzen was not happy to hear this, arguing that Hound13’s contract termination was unilateral and thus legally void. The company went on to file an injunction request with the court, intending to block the developers from releasing DragonSword: Awakening.
However, the court has reportedly dismissed all of Webzen’s claims, ruling that the contract termination was lawful given that the publisher not only failed to fulfill its contractual obligation by not paying the minimum guarantee, but had also clearly expressed its refusal to pay at one point.
Additionally, due to a lack of evidence, the court dismissed separate claims by Webzen asserting that Hound13 had used its translated materials without permission, concluding that the release of DragonSword: Awakening would not cause irreparable harm to the company as claimed.
Hound13 CEO Jung-Sik Park expressed gratitude for the court’s decision. His team hopes to nurture the new IP while continuing to polish the game and improve its content.
DragonSword: Awakening is coming soon to PC (Steam).
