Crimson Desert developer Pearl Abyss is celebrating the success of the game by delivering big bonuses to its employees. The large payday will likely be a boon for everyone involved in developing Crimson Desert, and is something that will likely make many in the industry envious, especially given recent trends.
Crimson Desert has been very popular with players, seeing positive critic reviews, high player counts, and an overall positive response from players. Crimson Desert sold more than 5 million copies in its first month alone, and still has a strong playerbase, cementing it as one of the biggest hits to release in 2026 so far.
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Crimson Desert Developer Rewards Its Employees with Cash
Crimson Desert has sold very well, and the developer isn’t letting that success go unrewarded. According to a report from MTN, developer Pearl Abyss has given its employees a bonus of 5 million Won, or roughly $3,400 USD, in celebration of its success in moving 5 million copies. The CEO of the development studio reportedly told its employees that they wanted to express respect and gratitude to the team, and thus paid the celebratory bonus to “all employees who have silently fulfilled their roles.” MTN noted that 733 employees currently work at Pearl Abyss. While it isn’t clear if every single one of them received the bonus, if they did, that breaks down to just under $2.5 million awarded in bonuses alone.
While the initial bonus is something Pearl Abyss’ developers are likely already celebrating, it probably won’t be the last time they get a financial boon like this one, either. Another bonus is being planned starting in early 2027, dependent upon the game’s financial performance in 2026. While there’s still more than half the year to go, the game hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down yet, with Crimson Desert getting a major update on April 23, so its developers may be able to look forward to more in 2027.
As mentioned, the news of this bonus will probably leave a lot of game developers wishing they worked at a place like Pearl Abyss. Over the last several years, the game development industry has hemorrhaged thousands of roles in game development all over the world due to layoffs. This has sometimes been the result of games being canceled or their release not performing as well as expected. However, there have also been other cases where games have performed tremendously well, yet numerous team members have been laid off regardless. Such was the case with Marvel Rivals, as Marvel Rivals celebrated a massive player milestone of 40 million players back in early 2025, just days after news broke that a US-based development team working on the game had been fired.
Fit the 9 games into the grid.
With a recent report indicating that 44% of active game developers have considered leaving the industry entirely due to redundancies, layoffs, and concerns over AI, Pearl Abyss’ move here is far from the norm. However, it’s not completely alone in doing better by its developers. In 2025, Elden Ring developer FromSoftware gave its employees a raise of approximately 11.8%, and starting this month, Persona developer Atlus gave its devs a raise, and also cut the amount of extra hours its developers are expected to put in.
- Released
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March 19, 2026
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
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Pearl Abyss
- Publisher(s)
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Pearl Abyss
Source: GamesIndustry.Biz
