Crimson Desert Dev Explains Why There Isn't a Post-Launch Roadmap

The Head of Publishing for Pearl Abyss reveals why the studio didn’t release a post-launch roadmap of content for Crimson Desert, instead choosing to follow a completely different path. Since it launched back in March, Crimson Desert has seen unprecedented support from developer Pearl Abyss, with frequent updates and patches bringing both quality of life improvements, bug fixes, and new content for players to dig into. Not only that, the cadence at which these updates have been released has been much faster than what most studios are able or willing to do.

Despite some mixed reviews ahead of its March 19 launch, Crimson Desert has been a massive success for Pearl Abyss. As the game continued to pass major sales milestones, word of mouth seemed to be a major reason why the game continued to pick up momentum with fans. It also didn’t hurt that Pearl Abyss was seemingly relentless when it came to player feedback, using it to drive new innovations and improvements to the game, occasionally making sweeping overhauls to features or mechanics that many didn’t enjoy. While many studios release a roadmap or a post-launch plan, Pearl Abyss has done the exact opposite for a very specific reason.

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Crimson Desert Emphasizes Player First Updates

Will Powers, who is the Head of Publishing for Pearl Abyss spoke about the game’s success and the company’s overall approach to keeping the game updated. While many games release some sort of DLC or content roadmap for fans to latch on to after the game launches, Pearl Abyss has instead intentionally avoided doing that. Instead of creating set-in-stone style dates that the developer would need to stick to or presume to know what players would want, the studio instead decided to rely on player feedback and responses to learn where to focus its post-launch efforts. This strategy led to a number of important tweaks and additions, including adjustments to Crimson Desert‘s control schemes.

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However, incorporating player feedback was just a part of the overall strategy. In addition to delivering constant updates and improvements, the studio also kept an eye on its community in regard to how they played the game, including clever tricks and innovations Crimson Desert players were coming up with. For Powers, he admitted that, “a good idea can come from anywhere” and the studio isn’t too proud or stingy to accept other ideas.

In fact, numerous major features have arrived in large part because of this policy. One in particular saw the arrival of difficulty options after players on social media websites like Reddit indicated they would be helpful. One particular post on the Crimson Desert subReddit that quickly gained traction came from a 73-year-old gamer who said they were enjoying the game but were having trouble with parts of it due to their poor eyesight, reduced reaction times, and arthritis within their hands.

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Another major point of contention came from those who cleared the map, an impressive feat considering how vast the game’s map is. At a certain point, players could effectively bring peace to the land by causing enemies to stop spawning, though this also made it hard for players to finish challenges, earning XP, and bringing all three characters to their full potential. As a result, Pearl Abyss added a Re-blockade feature to Crimson Desert, allowing players to set if they wanted enemies to respawn and how often it would happen. With the game’s continued popularity, it doesn’t seem like Pearly Abyss will be stopping its onslaught of updates anytime soon, even if it doesn’t share those plans in advance.