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Crimson Desert, while often a chaotic, systems-drowned game—is also rather good, if you’re into chaotic and messy things. Its brand of delightfully irreverent overstimulation charmed my pants off when I went to see it pre-release, and it’s certainly captured the hearts of a few of us here at PC Gamer.
It’s also raked in the big bucks for developer Pearl Abyss, whose recent earnings letter puts in perspective just how much of a win it was for the studio: “Crimson Desert sold approximately 2.11 million copies during 2Q26, with digital sales accounting for 1.72 million copies (82%) and physical sales accounting for 0.39 million copies (18%).”
Those sold copies produced an operating revenue of ₩406.2 billion, or around $284.5 million, in the first and second quarters of 2026—none too shabby for under a year’s worth of sales! Interestingly enough, North America and Europe are the two main drivers. This number includes revenue from Black Desert Online, the studio’s MMO, but those regions apparently accounted for over 75% of the profit.
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Mind, there’s a law of large numbers going on here. North America and the EU have an estimated 1+ billion people combined, whereas South Korea has around 51 million people in it—Crimson Desert is still very much popular on Pearl Abyss’ home turf, it’s just the population of Korea is outnumbered nearly 20:1 when compared to the NA+EU market blob.
Anyway, if you’re one of the people who made up that number, you’ve got some DLC to look forward to, as the letter reads: “Crimson Desert is preparing key initiatives, including DLC, strategic pricing, and platform expansion, to ensure long-term success … The DLC is currently under development scheduled for release this year while we refine its content direction and overall quality. Specific details regarding pricing, content composition, and launch timing will be officially announced in 3Q26.”
Looking it up, South Korea’s fiscal year starts on the calendar year—with the third quarter having already begun, but lasting until the end of September. That means that, at latest (assuming these plans bare out) we’ve still got a month and a half to wait for details.
But that’s still honestly sooner than I expected, especially given the rapid pace of updates that Pearl Abyss has been pouring into this thing. We’re talking birdwatching, we’re talking economy overhauls. 20 news types of small animal? Sure. New mounts? Here you go, sweetie. What’s that, you’re all full? Are you sure you don’t have room for a wyvern? Here comes the aeroplane, open up, yum yum!
It’s a blistering speed of new additions to an already systems-bloated game, but hey—anyone who’s still tucking into Kliff’s wild adventure probably doesn’t mind having seconds, thirds, and fourth servings.
