Pearl Abyss has been quite happy with the success of Crimson Desert, and according to a report by MTN, has rewarded its employees for their effort with a bonus of 5 million Won. The bonus is part of the company celebrating Crimson Desert having sold 5 million copies. In a reported statement, studio CEO Heo Jin-young thanked the studio’s employees and noted that the work is far from over.
“I express my deep respect and gratitude for the hard work of each and every one of you who created a product that the world is enthusiastic about, and I am paying a celebratory bonus for achieving 5 million sales to all employees who have silently fulfilled their roles in their respective positions,” he said (via machine translation).
“Our journey does not end here. The potential we confirmed today will be the most powerful driving force to overcome any challenge we face in the future.”
The publication has noted that Pearl Abyss has 733 employees, which means that the total payout for the bonus by the studio amounts to 3.7 billion Won (roughly $2.5 million). More bonuses are also slated for the future, with one scheduled for early 2027, depending on how well the company performs in the 2026 financial year.
The studio had announced that it had sold 5 million copies of Crimson Desert earlier this month, and in a statement on social media, thanked players for their support.
“Crimson Desert has sold through over 5 million copies worldwide,” wrote Pearl Abyss. “Thank you to every Greymane who has joined us on this journey, experienced the world of Pywel, and supported the game. Reaching this milestone would not have been possible without your support, and we are truly grateful.”
The milestone was hit just a month after Heo had spoken about selling 5 million copies during an earnings call. At the same time, he also noted that the studio had “begun R&D with interest” for a potential Nintendo Switch 2 port of the open-world action adventure game. “Compared to other consoles, the Switch still has lower specifications, so there are things we would have to give up,” he said.
Crimson Desert was released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on March 19th, and since then, Pearl Abyss has continued to support the title with plenty of free post-launch updates. The latest update, released just last week, brought in new difficulty modes, including a Hard option that raises the amount of damage enemies can deal, reduces invincibility frames for the player’s dodges, and makes the windows for defensive moves like parrying and dodging smaller. The update also brought in more storage chests for specific things, like crafting resources, food items, and quest items, among others.
While it may have been quite successful, players have noted that Crimson Desert‘s story is quite lackluster. In a Q&A, performance capture artist and reference model for protagonist Kliff, Trever McEwan, addressed this, noting that while the story is weak, there are other aspects that the game pulls off well.
“Yeah, I get that, but I think what it lacks in narrative it more than makes up for in other aspects,” he said in response to a player calling the story “barebones”. McEwan went on to praise the title‘s worldbuilding and lore, saying, “There’s lore hidden across the world as well, if players don’t mind a bit of reading.”
