Pearl Abyss shares plunged on the morning of March 19 after Crimson Desert received mixed reviews from critics. The open-world medieval adventure was one of the most anticipated games of a stacked 2026, so expectations were high leading up to its much-delayed release date. Now, that day has come, and while Crimson Desert has gotten its fair share of praise, its criticism has proved enough to affect its developer.
In some ways, the long-awaited title was a hit before it even came out. By March 17, Crimson Desert had become the top-selling paid game on Steam, generating an estimated $20 million in revenue from Steam pre-orders alone. That's twice as much as Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and nearly 10 times more than Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 achieved at the same point in their respective release cycles. Such a strong response leading up to the release likely gave investors a lot of confidence, but now it seems things haven't quite lived up to those expectations.
Crimson Desert developer Pearl Abyss makes a quiet change to the game's PC version, sparking controversy just one week before launch.
According to a financial report from Seoul Economic Daily, Pearl...
