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Dark Horse Comic Closes Digital Service, Ends App

Dark Horse Comics announced on Monday that it has closed its Dark Horse Digital (DHD) service. s can currently still and read the comics in their bookshelf. However, sales have ended for DHD. In addition, for the Dark Horse Comics and Plants vs. Zombies Comics apps for iOS devices will end on March 31. The company stated that it cannot guarantee the ability to books in their bookshelves after March 30. It also recommended s to create a DHD to sync to the app by March 30 if they did not do so already.

The company stated in its FAQ page that it plans for online access for the website to be available until this summer, but the website will "eventually retire." In the same FAQ, Dark Horse states that, technically, s do not own the comics in their bookshelves. "With Kindle, Nook, and other e-book companies, [s] license the right to read the book on ed and authorized devices."

Dark Horse Comics Konner Knudsen, one of its associate editors, announced on their Bluesky that they were laid off.

Dark Horse is part of the split by conglomerate Embracer Group in April last year into three companies: Asmodee Group, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends. Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends currently owns Dark Horse Comics.

Embracer Group began acquiring Dark Horse Comics in December 2021, and completed the acquisition in March 2022. The acquisiton was part of the company's spree of acquisitions of media and game companies beginning in 2019. After a planned US$2 billion investment from Savvy Games Group (a company owned by Saudi Arabi's Public Investment Fund) did not go through as planned in May 2023, the company found itself in debt, with the company soon planning restructuring, leading to mass layoffs, the sale of properties and subsidiary companies, and the three-company split from April last year.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters, in 1987.

Source: Dark Horse Comics (link 2)