Whether you love Crimson Desert or appreciate what it’s doing but can’t vibe with it, the vast majority of critical and player reviews can seemingly agree on one thing: The story could have been better. Perhaps more interesting is that Pearl Abyss CEO Heo Jin-young agrees with this sentiment “to an extent.”
Speaking to shareholders in a Q&A session recently (translation via Resetera), Heo answered question about the “lacking” storyline. “The disappointment regarding the lack of story is something the development team feels just as strongly as the users do. The fact that we could not improve it is due to our shortcomings,” he said as reported by Inven.
Heo noted that the team “focused on strengthening the gameplay aspects that we are good at, and we hope to better complement this part in our next project.” While this doesn’t outright confirm reports of troubled development, it does lend some credence to the same.
Of course, given how successful Crimson Desert has been – Heo said he’s looking forward to sharing news on five million sales – you would think that DLC would be happening at some point. However, he said it would be “difficult” to provide any definitive answer on the same.
“It is difficult to give a definitive answer regarding the direction of DLC. However, our concept of DLC is to create an environment where players can enjoy the game for a longer time. It seems likely that we will choose to provide what players want as quickly as possible. While also considering revenue expansion, management and the development team will work closely together to achieve both user satisfaction and shareholder performance. Expanding sales of the base game remains our top priority.”
We can already see that with its latest patch, which added private storage, more Abyss Nexus points for easier fast travel, and even nerfs to multiple bosses and enemies. But what about multiplayer? After all, there are already three playable characters, and a mechanic allows for summoning Damiane and/or Oongka to fight alongside you. Surely it wouldn’t be too surprising to have another player or two jump into your game down the line, right?
Unfortunately, the limitations of current-gen hardware reared their head. “The development team did attempt to implement multiplayer internally, but given current hardware limitations, there are clear graphical sacrifices required,” said Heo, as reported by Yonhap News Agency. Pearl Abyss isn’t abandoning the idea as much as sidelining it for the time being, so never say never.