Marketing and strategic planning expert Will Powers previously explained that the studio won’t stop with the free updates as long as there’s demand. Heck, there’s also a plan to release more until September, not to mention DLC at some point in the future. But it’s about more than just increasing sales.

“A new IP selling five million copies in a month should be celebrated. There’s too many layoffs and studio closures, and bad news that I think that we all could benefit from spending some time around the good news,” said Powers to CG Mag.

“This should be a celebration in general, because Pearl Abyss isn’t taking a victory lap in the sense of ‘All right, how can we sell more?’ It’s ‘How can we give more back to the community?'”

Instead, the development team’s post-launch focus is more on “what we can do to reward the players that have been there from day one and continue to make the game this living, breathing experience.”

Story improvements are one such endeavor and while the core structure of the campaign won’t change, you can expect cutscene improvements to “clarify” certain elements and provide a “better onboarding experience.” New players are rewarded for sure, but Pearl Abyss isn’t disrespecting the time that current players have already put in.

And while details on DLC remain a mystery, Powers clarified that it will be “different from all the updates” released thus far. He also noted that there’s a “good reason why we’re calling it a DLC,” perhaps hinting at the overall scope.

As always, time will tell, but whether you agree with Pearl Abyss’s motives or not, there’s no denying the impressive post-launch support. Crimson Desert is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC – check out everything you should know about the latest update, which adds 58 new house items and allows Oongka and Damiane to ride Blackstar.

While half of the top 10 list in the US were new releases for the month, the other half was made up of older games, like Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, MLB: The Show 26, Crimson Desert, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, and Mario Kart World.

When taking the whole year into account, Resident Evil Requiem continues to take the top spot for game sales in the US. It is followed by Crimson Desert in second place and MLB: The Show 26 in third place. Despite being a relatively new release, 007 First Light has managed to do incredibly well by taking the fourth spot for the entire year so far, followed by Forza Horizon 6 in fifth. LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is the only new release to have broken through the top 10 sales for the year, coming in at 7th place.

007 First Light ended up getting quite a few accolades for its performance in May 2026, being the best-selling PlayStation game for the month, as well as the highest “full game dollar sales” of any James Bond game in history.

All in all, Piscatella has reported that total video game spending in the US for May 2026 hit $4.2 billion, which marks a 3 percent increase over May 2025. By the time the month was over, the year-to-date spending was 4 percent higher than last year, coming in at $23 billion.

Interestingly, Piscatella has noted that consoles served as the primary platform for game spending in May 2026 in the US, with total spending having gone up by 25 percent compared to last year. When taking year-to-date figures, console content spending is 13 percent higher. PC and subscriptions haven’t fallen behind either, coming in at 15 percent and 11 percent year-on-year increases, respectively.

Piscatella has also revealed details about console hardware sales in the US for May 2026, noting that both PlayStation and Xbox haven’t been doing too well. While it was the first May faced by PlayStation since 2000, Piscatella has confirmed that May 2026 was the worst May for Xbox since Microsoft launched the division. While there are likely many reasons for console sales falling in this regard, Piscatella also brought up the fact that price hikes have led to consoles simply getting too expensive. Xbox, for example, saw a 22 percent increase in average hardware price since 2025. PlayStation, on the other hand, saw an increase of 33 percent year-on-year.

“Xbox is currently tracking a distant third in hardware sales among the major manufacturers. But they are getting more revenue from each unit sold, enough to make dollar sales grow in May despite the unit drop,” said Piscatella. “If that fits the definition of ‘working’ or not, I don’t know.”

May 2026 U.S. Projected Top 10 Best-Selling Games Ranked on Physical & Full Game Digital Dollar Sales (Excludes Mobile and Digital Add-On Content)

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-06-26T13:00:03.576Z

YTD 2026 U.S. Projected Top 10 Best-Selling Games Ranked on Physical & Full Game Digital Dollar Sales (Excludes Mobile and Digital Add-On Content)

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-06-26T13:00:03.577Z

Content – Console drove content spending growth in May. Total spending on console content increased by 25% compared to a year ago and is now 13% higher year-to-date. PC content (+15% versus a year ago) and subscription spending (+11%) also grew in May.

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-06-26T13:00:03.585Z

Content – 007 First Light was May’s leader in full game dollar sales, debuting as the 4th best-seller of 2026 year-to-date. It also led all titles in full game dollar sales on PlayStation platforms in the month.

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-06-26T13:00:03.586Z

So, what’s new? Let’s dive right into a list that’s quite intriguing.

1. Exterior House Decorations

You’ve spent hours placing every bit of furniture and decorations just right inside the house you’re given early into your efforts to reassemble the Greymanes. What started with a simple flower basket is now an elaborate setup that reflects your growth and the extent of your travels.

All of that’s fine, but it didn’t make sense that the exterior of your house was as drab as your camp when you first set it up on Howling Hill. Not anymore! You’ve got a ton of options to add to your home’s exterior, and it’s quite a treat!

2. A Bunch of New Housing Items

There are fifty-eight new items that you can collect and add to the exterior of your homes. Yes, you read that right. They include Sotdaes, fountains, an assortment of facilities, braziers, wells, lights, carpets, automata toys, hanging pots for your plants, a music box, and even furniture for your pets in case they’re ones who prefer hanging out in the open instead of within your four walls.

That’s a lot of stuff to pick up and play around with, and this one’s going to keep you completionists and decorators quite busy until the next update arrives to overwhelm you with more stuff.

3. Workstations and Looms

The addition of all those new items for your houses is accompanied by new crafting options. The Workstation and Loom are where you’re going to go to get started with decorating your house’s exterior. There’s a Workstation in Hernand, at the Timberhand Saw Mill, as well as the Greymane camp, while a loom is waiting for you at the Hernand tailor shop.

Crafting recipes for items can be found in shops, won from claw machines, crafted in crafting missions for flower baskets, the newly added boxes of fortune in the Mystery Shop, and from orb roll challenges. That’s a great way to weave in new additions with exploration and gameplay instead of merely dumping them into shops.

4. More Integration For Damiane and Oongka

It’s almost a tradition at this point for Damiane and Oongka to have something added to their repertoire with each passing update, and this one’s no different. They can both equip the Visione now, which was an oversight that should have been remedied a long time ago. Well, better late than never. Additionally, they can now mount Blackstar, the noble dragon, finally recognizing them as valuable allies.

Oh, and they can now read memories and can learn Nature’s Snare through observation, which should give them an edge against those pesky flying enemies who attack at range.

They also get the cool loading screen that Kliff gets if you’re booting up the game with either of them as your last played character.

5. Sliding Chain Attacks

This one might not seem like much, but we can tell you that having chain attacks at your disposal while sliding immediately improves combat flow by a significant margin. If you hate having to have a little break in your momentum after trading blows with an enemy, this one’s going to have you grinning as you flit seamlessly between foes to sustain a continuous barrage of attacks that they’re going to struggle to keep up with.

6. Preserving Settings On Retrying Bosses

While observing enemy attacks to pick up new skills is cool and all, it gets really annoying when you have to do it time and time again if you’re the type who likes to hoard Palmar Pills and just restart a tough fight from scratch. It’s especially annoying on hard mode when your concentration could break thanks to a pop-up about a new skill.

That’s now a thing of the past, and it also extends to the primary and secondary weapons you had selected, your element of choice, arrows, food, and consumable items. Diving back into the fight with all the right stuff already in place is very welcome and can reduce a lot of friction that arises from having to select it all again in the heat of battle.

7. New Gear And Accessories

We’re pretty excited about this one as we like our warriors looking and feeling their very best every time they step out into Pywel. There’s the Greymane Light Armor for Kliff, alongside five new helmets for you to make more unique looks for him. Those include the Silent Conqueror Plate Helm, Sentinel of Tenacity Helm, Feral Sentinel Helm, Steelmaw Plate Helm, and the Sentinel of Trust Helm.

Damiane gets a pair of Honorary Cloth Gloves for her contributions to the Greymane cause. There’s also the new Greymane Signet accessory for those of you who are doubling down on being representatives of the Greymanes wherever you go in Pywel.

8. Improvements To Knowledge And Collectibles

There are a few new Knowledge entries that are now obtainable even if you’ve finished associated quests, an omission that’s sure to be good news for those of you who’ve been getting annoyed by incomplete lists thanks to your inner completionists. You can now get the entries for Exploding Bismuth Spiders, Jar Back Crabs, Darksworn Armor Spectral Soldiers, and Jared.

It’s always a good thing to reduce the number of missables in a title as big as this one, and this is definitely a step in the right direction for Pywel.

9. UI Improvements and Beyond

It isn’t just new content and combat tweaks with this one, as the settings menu is now easier to navigate thanks to being able to switch to the first or last entries from either end of a menu, while the Collectibles chest now clearly tells you what you already own and what you still need to find out in the world.

Furthermore, the disappearance of enemy icons from the minimap under certain conditions has now been addressed, and you’re prompted to set the minimum font size you prefer when you’re booting up a new game. That’s certainly a boon for readability, clarity, and reduced friction when navigating the game’s menus, where you do spend a fair bit of time as you go about your business. We’d call it a win for accessibility.

10. Miscellaneous Improvements

Last but certainly not least are fixes that improve on minor, yet important aspects of the experience that Pywel has to offer. Crashes have been addressed, as have performance and frame drops in certain conditions. Additionally, landing issues when you’re using Blackstar or a wyvern have been addressed, too.

There have also been fixes to NPC follow behaviour, housing placement, crashes when switching weapons after you use Nature’s Echo, controls not responding when you try to fire a shotgun while riding a wagon, and blocked progression during some missions.

Well, that’s another long list of fixes for us to test out alongside all of you dedicated Greymanes out there. We’re not going to keep you any longer, and hope our paths cross, either in Pywel or when the next awesome update to Crimson Desert comes along. Stay safe, fellow Greymanes, and don’t let those Black Bears gain an inch of land while you’re at it!

Furthermore, they can also use Blackstar as a mount. These make it that much easier to play either character without having to awkwardly shift back to Kliff, especially in the late to post-game.

The development has also expanded on house decoration, and we don’t mean by just adding 58 new items (though that’s obviously welcome). It’s now possible to decorate your house’s immediate surroundings. Furthermore, a Loom and Workstation have been added to specific locations to assist in item crafting, which is how you’ll be unlocking the new house items.

Other neat additions include five new headgear pieces and a new set of armor – the Greymane Light Armor – for Kliff. Meanwhile, Damiane gets the Honorary Greymane Cloth Gloves – a nice touch, considering her role in the story.

Check out some of the patch notes below and full details here. Of course, this is far from the end, as Pearl Abyss has more updates lined up until September and DLC in the works.

Patch Notes Version 1.12.00

Content

• Improved the game so that the character loading screen is also displayed when loading as Oongka or Damiane.
  – Additionally, the loading process has been optimized to slightly reduce loading time.
• Changed the name of the “Pets – Tailor’s Shop” to “Pet Shop.”
• Kuku Cooler and Enhanced Kuku Cooler can now be sold.
• Adjusted the foul conditions for certain skills in All-Out Duels.
• Added new ways to obtain the following knowledge entries, which previously became unobtainable after completing certain quests.
  – Exploding Bismuth Spider
  – Jarback Crab
  – Skull Knight Followers
  – Jared
  – Darksworn Armor Spectral Soldier
  – Giant Rock Tusk Warthog
• Improved logging so that Fine Timber drops when Logging Quality Up Lv 2 is active.
• Improved rematches so that it is now available at a stronghold undergoing reconstruction.

1. Register More Pets

The number of pets you can register has been raised to a hundred, although you can only have fifty of them running around your camp at any given time. As for the rest, we’re going to assume that our fellow Greymanes are caring for them even if they’re not close at hand. Additionally, any rewards from existing pet challenges you’ve completed are going to be granted to you retroactively, which is a good thing, as you don’t have to worry about taking extra steps to track them down.

This one’s going to be quite popular with those of you who’ve made it your life’s mission to bring as many of Pywel’s fauna as you can find to your camp, or at least get them off the streets.

2. Find Baby Wyverns More Easily

Baby wyverns are now getting their own map icons, which means that those among you looking to take to the skies on a fearsome Wyvern of your own can get started with that process much more seamlessly than before. Mind you, you’re still going to have to feed the little ones and help them grow to their full size, but it’s nice to know where to find them. If you’ve missed out on the last few updates, know that wyverns are now usable as mounts, and there’s no cooldown on summoning them, unlike Blackstar.

We were already sold on wyverns after the last update, and they continue to be our personal favorite amongst all the options for a mount that we now have at our disposal. You might be interested to know that Kuku Bird eggs and Wyvern eggs are no longer stackable.

3. Mounting Issues Have Been Fixed

For those of you who’ve been having trouble getting on your wyverns once you summon them, things should be a lot better now, while the issue of mounts getting summoned into immediate danger is now remedied across the board. That’s a very helpful change that could help you keep your beloved travel companions a bit safer in a world where everything might feel like it’s out to get them. Additionally, if you’ve been remounting your wyverns when you try a spectacular dive to the ground off their backs, that’s now gone, and you can now hurtle down to that interesting sight you’ve seen whenever you like. You can also mount wyverns using Axiom Force without learning Back Hang now, and both Blackstar and wyverns aren’t going to walk into water anymore.

We will say that taking to the skies has made spotting interesting things on the ground a tad harder. We recommend using them to cover large distances in a pinch, but it’s best to have another one for the ground when you want to sniff out hidden secrets and mysteries.

4. Pets Keep Their Names When They Grow

We had a wyvern we called Toothless when it was little, despite the little one coming with quite a nasty set of chompers. Unfortunately, getting it to full size saw the name vanish into thin air. Well, that’s now a thing of the past, and it immediately makes the entire process of raising pets you can use as mounts feel more personal. It may not seem like a big deal, but it’s these little details that make Pywel such an interesting place to lead a second life in.

It’s always nice to have pets with names, after all.

5. Buy Back Lost Rare Equipment from Shopkeepers

Managing your inventory can get a little overwhelming at times, and it’s highly possible you’ve discarded a rare item without realizing you did so. That’s fixed now, as lost items that you find yourself needing long after you’ve forgotten about them can now be repurchased from shops, albeit at a higher price. We’re calling it a recovery fee, which makes sense, given that it can take up to 7 in-game days for such items to show up in the shopkeeper’s inventory. At least the “finders, keepers” rule isn’t in play.

This one should make managing your inventory better, although we’d still recommend a bit of caution when you’re disposing of items.

6. Pinball Is Now Easier

If you were finding the Pinball mini-game added in the last update a tad too difficult for you to actually relax while playing it, as was intended, you’ll be pleased to know that there have been a bunch of changes to make things easier for you. The ball is going to be a little weightier, for starters, while the annoying clipping issues it faced when you hit walls are now addressed. Pin positions have been adjusted to make things smoother, while some fixed pins have been taken out.

Additionally, if you’ve had the ball getting stuck in the top-left corner of your board, that’s a thing of the past, as is the one where the ball just drops off the launcher. Oh, and the launch angle and force have been adjusted, too.

7. Damiane and Oongka Get Access To Useful Tools

It was baffling that two out of the three playable protagonists had to mine valuable ores and timber the old-fashioned way, using a pickaxe or a logging axe when they needed them to upgrade their gear. Well, both Damiane and Oongka can now equip the mining drill and chainsaw, which is going to make resource gathering go a whole lot faster, letting you focus on letting them take on anything that Pywel throws at them with gear that’s now easier to upgrade. You’re also going to see correct yield amounts if you attempt to harvest ores when you’re clinging to a wall.

It’s yet another improvement in a long list aimed at making the duo more accessible than they were when the game first launched, and we must say that they’ve come a long way since then.

8. Expanded Controller Mapping

If you’re taking on Pywel’s expansive world with a controller, the mapping options you have are now expanded, letting you quickly access your inventory, map, skills, photo mode, and the journal when you need to. Of course, holding down your touchpad is still our favorite way to get to the map now, but it’s sure nice to see the developer giving players so many options to make navigating the game’s menus so much easier.

We imagine this one’s going to make those of you using Pro versions of controllers with extra buttons quite happy, as well as you Greymanes who still can’t get enough of all the beautiful sights Pywel has to offer.

9. Minor Improvements and Fixes To Combat

If you’ve noticed that your Spirit isn’t recovering as well as it should when you’re in control of Damiane and Oongka despite upgrading their Focus, that’s been fixed, and your gains should be improved as a result. You’re going to see changes to the attack patterns of Golem enemies if you’ve left any alive during your time in Pywel. You bow users out there are going to appreciate the additional effects added to Explosive Evasive Shot and Multishot when you’re using special arrows, a change that we suspect is going to have many Greymanes pondering a shift to ranged builds.

Oongka’s Scatter Shot ability has also been fixed to reduce the appropriate number of cannonballs if you use it while clinging to a wall.

10. Miscellaneous Changes

If you’ve been as annoyed at that glitch where the XP UI wouldn’t show up when you feed a pet as we’ve been, that’s now been remedied. Animal names at the Racher’s shop now display correctly instead of those question marks that turned up prior to this update. There are also improved images for animals in the Knowledge and Guides sections of your glossary, a small but much-needed change to lend polish to the overall UI quality.

There are also localization fixes, a remedy to the Depth of Field issue in Photo Mode that lets you disable it now, and the addition of a Flower Basket to the Hernand Contribution Shop, and the addition of the first volume of Ranged Weapons of the World to the equipment vendor’s inventory in Hernand.

And that’s about it for this one. We’re quite happy to see how managing your pets has been made so seamless and easy in the past few updates, but we do think that it’s about time the rest of the roadmap begins to get some much-needed attention from the developers. We can’t wait to see how they try to address the story’s continuity, after all. But all in all, things continue to look up for Crimson Desert, and we’re certain the rest of the year is going to see Pywel become even better than it is now.

However, when you consider the cadence of updates and what’s already been added, what could DLC possibly add to the experience? While it “remains to be seen” what direction the team will take, PR and marketing director Will Powers sought to clarify a few things to IGN at Summer Game Fest.

“You know, words are important. So let’s be very clear about the difference between the words ‘update,’ ‘DLC,’ and ‘expansion.’ What we’ve called everything we’ve done and added to the game right now has been updates. We’re calling this upcoming project a DLC, so this will be different from all the updates we’ve had after the game launched.

“So that’s where I’ll go with that. We’re calling it something different, and there’s a good reason why we’re calling it a DLC.”

In other words, you can expect more than just new features or changes to current systems. It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to expect new armor sets, weapons, bosses, side quests and whatnot. And given the sheer range of systems already in the game, who’s to say that Pearl Abyss couldn’t add some more? Deep-sea diving, anyone?

Of course, there’s also that last bit about what Pearl Abyss considers an “expansion.” Is it possible that this DLC, however big it may be, serves as a stopgap while the team works on something even bigger?

Time will tell, but for now, the scale of the DLC remains to be revealed, not to mention the release window. Stay tuned for further updates in the meantime; check out what’s planned for June to September in terms of new features.

It will see improvements sometime between now and September in an update, but what exactly do they entail? Well, for starters, don’t expect Pearl Abyss to take the current story and completely throw it away in favor of something different.

“I’ll start with what I hope is not a controversial statement: art is subjective, just in general. That’s not to discount anyone’s experience, and people’s different opinions are all valid, whether it’s a review or a consumer’s impressions. But that’s what comes down to the crux of the question: does that mean we’re overhauling this story and throwing away what we built for a different story than the one people originally played? No,” Powers told IGN at Summer Game Fest.

“Does it mean we are making a better effort to maintain story continuity and improve cutscenes to clarify story elements and provide a better onboarding experience? Yes. That’s the goal we have with the improved storytelling, and that’s okay.”

Of course, as always, there’s a balancing act. While Powers notes criticisms like players not understanding Kliff’s motivation out of the gate (or really what drives him other than being a do-gooder), the team doesn’t want to alter the core experience.

“Many players didn’t necessarily understand the character’s motivation in the beginning hours, and they felt like characters appeared without them understanding who they were in the story. We can address that, but that won’t change the experience of those who already played the game.

“But does it make it better for people playing for the first time, or for people who want to play again? Yeah, totally. But at the end of the day, we didn’t want to compromise on fun, and we also don’t want to detract from people who are early adopters for the game as well, so everything that we’re doing is a way of rewarding their experience by making it additive to what they’ve already experienced.”

If you’ve already played through the story, then another playthrough may prove much more rewarding while remaining fun in its own way. It’s likely Powers is also indicating that you shouldn’t expect any massive changes to mission structure or the general flow of the game.

Stay tuned for more updates on the upcoming changes, and in the meantime, check out Crimson Desert’s latest update here. It lets you turn the camp into a veritable zoo by raising the pet limit to 100 (though you can only have 50 out at a time).

Thanks to the additional slots, players can now register up to 100 pets. While the maximum number of pets is much higher now, at camp, players will still be limited to summoning up to 50 of them. In further pet-related improvements, baby wyverns now get a dedicated map icon.

There have also been other additions to the game, like shopkeepers now being able to sell rare equipment the player may have lost. Players no longer have to worry about missing out on the same if they don’t get it from chests or quests, since they can now just buy those items back from a shopkeeper (though it will cost more). The pinball minigame has also seen some adjustments, leading to its overall difficulty being lowered. For more details on the update, check out the full patch notes below.

Crimson Desert is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Since its release in March, the open-world action-adventure game has seen a tremendous level of success, with Pearl Abyss announcing earlier this week that it had sold over 6 million copies so far. As for its post-launch support, the studio has said that it will continue with these free updates as long as players continue to ask for them.

Crimson Desert update 1.11.00 patch notes:

New Additions

• Added new challenges that allow you to register more pets.
  • You can now register up to 100 pets.
  • However, you can only summon up to 50 pets at camp even if you have more than 50 pets registered.
  • Added reward items for the existing pet challenge that increases the number of pets you can register.
    • If you have already completed the relevant challenge, you will receive the items retroactively.
• Added a dedicated map icon for baby wyverns.
• [Damiane/Oongka] Can now equip the Mining Drill and Chainsaw.

Major Improvements

Content

• Shopkeepers will begin collecting and reselling lost rare equipment.
  • Rare equipment obtained from treasure chests, quests, and other methods can now be purchased from shops if lost.
  • These items will be sold at a higher price than their original value.
  • Lost equipment will become available in shops within 7 days of being lost.
• Improved the pinball minigame and lowered its difficulty.
  • Adjusted the ball to move with a slightly heavier feel.
  • Reduced the occurrence of an issue where the ball would pass through walls.
  • Adjusted the positions of pins and removed some fixed pins.
  • Reduced the occurrence of an issue where the ball would often get stuck in the upper-left area.
  • Adjusted the force and launch angle when the ball is launched from the portal.
  • Fixed an issue where the ball would fall when bounced off the launcher.
• Fixed an issue where the Sigil of Solidarity could not be used in certain situations.
• Improved pets so that their names are kept when they grow.
• Fixed an issue where the wyvern would be summoned in an unmountable state.
• Kuku bird eggs and Wyvern eggs are no longer stackable.
• Improved mounts so that they are no longer summoned in dangerous zones.
• Improved foul detection in the duel minigame.

Controls

• [Controller] Buttons for opening Inventory, Map, Skills, Journal, and Photo Mode can now be assigned.
• Fixed an issue where dismounting from a wyvern midair would cause the player to automatically remount it.
• Fixed an issue where certain housing items could not be moved after being taken out in Housing Mode.

Combat / Action

• [Damiane/Oongka] Fixed an issue where the amount of Spirit recovered did not increase even after leveling up “Focus.”
• Improved Wyvern mounts so that players can use “Axiom Force” to mount them without learning “Back Hang.”
• Adjusted the attack patterns of Golem monsters.
• Improved “Explosive Evasive Shot” and “Multishot” so that additional effects trigger when using them with special arrows equipped.

UI

• Improved images for certain animals, Knowledge entries, and Guides.
• Fixed an issue where names of animals would appear as ??? at the Rancher’s Shop.
• Fixed an issue where the experience UI would not appear after feeding a pet.

Localization

• Fixed various localization errors and improved localization quality across all languages.

Others

• [Oongka] Fixed an issue where using “Scatter Shot” while clinging to a wall would not consume any cannonballs.
• Fixed an issue where the bonus yield effect did not function properly when using the drill while clinging to a wall.
• Fixed an issue where the “Depth of Field” could not be disabled in Photo Mode.
• Fixed an issue where Blackstar and wyverns would walk into water in certain situations.
• Fixed an issue where attacking with a wyvern on land would consume an excessive amount of stamina.
• “Flower Basket” has been added to the Hernand Provisioner’s Shop, and “Ranged Weapons of the World – Bows, Vol. I” has been added to the Hernand Equipment Shop.
• Fixed an issue where feeding would consume two food items on Hard difficulty.
• The Knowledge entry for “Irkyn” can now be obtained after completing the quest to repair the kiln at the Kilnden Workshop.

“Your adventures and tales continue to make the journey of Crimson Desert even more special. Once again, thank you to every Greymane who has stepped into Pywel and experienced the world of Crimson Desert in their own way,” it wrote on Twitter.

And while “journey” isn’t something that you would typically associate with a one-and-done single-player experience, it’s more about the post-launch support. Pearl Abyss has released almost weekly updates since release, adding several new features, improving core systems, addressing performance issues, and much more.

These include new mounts, new abilities for Oongka and Damian, new mini-games like Pinball and the Crane Game, individual storage chests for different items, and much more. It really is too much to list, and there’s even more on the way between June and September, with plans to add New Game Plus and cross-save. The development team is even taking a stab at improving the story, which remains the game’s biggest weak point.

And if that wasn’t enough, DLC is also in the works. Nothing is known about it, whether it’s the cost, what new content it brings or when it will launch, but we’re excited all the same.

Crimson Desert is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Check out our re-review here, though keep in mind that it doesn’t even cover all the updates released thus far.

Powers brought up the fact that, thanks to Pearl Abyss’ experience in working on MMORPGs – a genre that often requires extensive post-launch support and content updates – its efforts in the single-player domain are seeing a similar level of success. It also comes down to the fact that many players who only enjoy single-player titles aren’t used to seeing this kind of support for the games they are spending their time with.

“This is a model that gamers aren’t used to. Of a premium game giving consistent and free content post-launch.” He went on to note that, “If I want to promote the game, a great way to do that is to have a sustained player base and constantly be high up on the Steam Charts.”

“Having continued support and continued content both rewards your community and the people that have invested time in it, as well as doing free marketing without having to spend it elsewhere,” Powers explained. “So, you’re spending it on adding more content to the game instead of spending it on advertising.”

Along with the marketing benefits of Crimson Desert’s updates consistently bringing it back into the news cycle, Powers also said that it was “a way of paying back the community directly” for Pearl Abyss.

“Without the community, there is no Black Desert,” he said. “Without Black Desert, there is no Crimson Desert. So, the whole goal of the company is to take care of the community, because without them, there is no company. We live and die by our fans.”

As for what might be in store for Crimson Desert in the future, Powers said that the planned DLC is going to be “substantially different from what we have done previously.” However, he didn’t reveal any more details about what this could entail.

Along with announcing the DLC, Pearl Abyss had also revealed some of its plans for Crimson Desert’s future updates earlier this month. These include addressing one of the biggest complaints players have had about Crimson Desert: its story.

“We have been carefully reviewing the story-related feedback you have shared with us. To further strengthen the narrative flow of Kliff’s journey and to make it more engaging, we are working to refine and improve the coherence of key scenes,” said the team.

The studio is also working on more challenging content for players that enjoy the combat systems in Crimson Desert, and said that it would give these players a way to “prove their true strength as a Greymane.”

Crimson Desert is available for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. For more details, check out the details of its most recent update. Also take a look at our thoughts on why its next six months could potentially change everything.