Undoubtedly, one of the biggest success stories of 2026 is gaming Red desertAfter being announced 7 years ago, the long-awaited open-world fantasy RPG from Black Desert Online developer Pearl Abyss is finally here. Although it opened to a rather mixed reception, several quickly and big updates have fixed many of its problems and it has become quite a popular title.
Indeed, the massive title now has a “Very Positive” rating Steam86% of 51,616 user reviews awarded it a blue like. It also reached 276,261 concurrent players on Valve’s PC gaming platform alone – and earlier this month, reached the very impressive milestone of 5 million copies sold worldwide Xbox, PC and PS5.
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Pearl Abyss CEO Heo Jin-young said, “I deeply respect and appreciate the hard work of each and every one of you in creating a product that the world is looking forward to, and I’m giving a holiday bonus to all the employees who have been quietly doing their jobs for reaching 5 million sales,” Pearl Abyss CEO Heo Jin-young said, according to an insider on MTN.
“Our journey does not end here. The potential we affirm today will be the strongest driving force to overcome any challenges we face in the future,” he added.
It’s great to see Pearl Abyss employees being rewarded with a huge bonus payout. While Crimson Desert is an incredibly impressive achievement that delivers enjoyable open-world action gameplay on an almost unparalleled scale, its developers worked hard and fast to quickly address key complaints about the game’s control scheme and its lack of storage for (original) tools.
This effort earned the trust and appreciation of thousands of players and did wonders for the reputation of both the RPG and Pearl Abyss as a studio.
I’m not sure if Crimson Desert will win Game of the Year – it has some stiff competition. Resident Evil Requiem and Pragmata and of course GTA 6 can win just because of that this GTA 6 – but it’s certainly a strong contender for the coveted award, and I’d be shocked if it wasn’t at least nominated.
The game is currently available everywhere Xbox Series X|S, PC, Mac and PS5 for $69.99, though there is a PC version $58.29 Downloaded and Xbox is one $60.99 when loaded. Supports on Xbox Play Xbox Anywhereallows cross-saving and ownership between Xbox and Xbox on PC as long as you use the same Microsoft account for both.
What do you think of Crimson Desert? Have you played yet? If so, you yet playing? Let me know below.
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