Crimson Desert launched to very middling reviews. Critics praised the game’s open world and combat, but found the story lackluster and a lot of the connective tissue weak or missing all together. But the response from players was hardly mixed. It catapulted to the top of the Steam charts and stayed there as more and more people became instant fans. Pearl Abyss Europe CEO Lybee Park recently weighed in on the gap between those two receptions.
“I do believe both parties have fair points, especially the critics,” she told The Game Business Show. “They had to play a build that was not the exact same version as the launch game.”
It’s become increasingly common for big games to “come in hot,” meaning that the developers are still rolling out significant tweaks and optimizations even during the review period in the days before a game officially releases. While Crimson Desert reviewers had plenty of time with it—some played over 100 hours before delivering their assessments—they were playing a version of the game that was different even from what players ended up experiencing on day one.
“Critics had to play the build that is not the exact same version as the launch game,” Park continued. “They also had limited time. Usually, the classical approach when they review the game is to follow the main story line. But our unique charm is spread across our in-game world. All those tiny details that are hidden. I am not sure critics had the fair chance to explore those during the review period.”
Crimson Desert received a day-one patch as well as a big update in its first week. The latter included substantial overhauls to some of the game’s systems, including inventory limitations that had frustrated many reviewers. By the end of the first month, Crimson Desert was already a very different game from the one some critics had poured so much time into.
That helps explain the apparent discrepancy between the game’s 77 on Metacritic and its eventual 7 million sales milestone, though there are also plenty of things some people still don’t like about the game, which is also fine. No one uses box-office performance as a marker for a movie’s quality or artistic merit, and there’s no necessary correlation in gaming either. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was one of last year’s best-selling games with even worse reviews.
Crimson Desert isn’t done changing, however. Following months of ongoing major renovations to the sprawling game, its new “Charting the Unknown” DLC arrives on October 29.
