Pearl Abyss has high hopes for Black Desert Online’s long-term future, and that has the developer set to invest further.
Two new Pearl Abyss offices have been opened up in the western world, with the South Korean company setting up shop in Los Angeles and Amsterdam. This marks a major milestone for Pearl Abyss as it prepares for a major marketing expansion for Black Desert Online and the company’s upcoming titles.
Black Desert Online launched in 2015 but didn’t receive a launch in Europe and North America until a year later. Despite garnering generally positive reviews, the game failed to gain any serious traction in western markets until 2018, adding players rapidly from there. The game received Xbox One and PlayStation 4 releases at different points in 2019 and by the end of 2020, Pearl Abyss stated that BDO had reached over 40 million players and $1.7 billion in revenue.
While Pearl Abyss is undoubtedly focused on making Black Desert Online even bigger, the move is likely motivated by the other titles the developer has in the works.
Pearl Abyss has been enjoying the success of Black Desert Online but that doesn’t mean that the company was looking to emulate Riot Games by having just one successful game that it exclusively worked on for a decade.
Instead of simply building up BDO further, these new offices “will be responsible for bringing upcoming in-house developed games.” Specifically, the offices will be handling the rollouts for Crimson Desert, DokeV, and Plan 8.
Crimson Desert is a single-player action-adventure game that, at least according to Pearl Abyss, is not related to Black Desert Online. It takes place in a similar fantasy setting and follows a character named Macduff trying to navigate a blasted, wartorn environment.
Plan 8 is a new MMO in development from Pearl Abyss, but it looks to be very different from Black Desert Online. The game has a futuristic post-apocalyptic environment in the vein of the Fallout series with players scavenging for resources, making jerry-rigged weapons, and fighting androids.
DokeV is another MMO title coming from Pearl Abyss, but with a focus on being friendly for all ages. The game features action game combat with a Pokemon-like theme of training and battling with monsters.
No definite release dates have come out for any of these games, but DokeV and Crimson Desert were both targeted for 2021 releases.
Crimson Desert is not an MMO, despite the fact that it seems to be adjacent to Pearl Abyss’ Black Desert Online. Crimson Desert is a single-player, open-world action game that was originally meant to be a prequel to Black Desert Online but developed in a different direction. The game is currently set for a 2021 release, most likely around the holiday season.
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