Pearl Abyss saw its first-quarter results improve sharply this year on the back of strong sales of the new title "Crimson Desert."
Pearl Abyss said on the 12th that first-quarter sales on a consolidation basis were 328.5 billion won, up 419.6% from a year earlier. Operating profit came to 212.1 billion won, up 2,597.4% in the same period. Net profit was 170 billion won, up 2,107.8%.
On Mar. 20, the company released the new title "Crimson Desert," which drove results. "Crimson Desert" sold 2 million copies on the first day alone, and broke 5 million in sales in about a month.
Overseas sales accounted for 94% of Pearl Abyss' first-quarter revenue. Of that, North America and Europe made up 81%, with "Crimson Desert" driving sales. By intellectual property (IP), the existing flagship "Black Desert" posted 61.6 billion won, and "Crimson Desert" posted 266.5 billion won.
By platform, "Crimson Desert" revenue was split evenly, with consoles and PC each accounting for 50%.
A Pearl Abyss official said, "The success of 'Crimson Desert' was led by the technological competitiveness of our in-house game engine, the 'BlackSpace Engine,'" and added, "Optimization technology that renders a vast open world seamlessly, realistic physics, and high-quality graphics provided strong immersion."
Although "Crimson Desert" initially drew some negative reviews right after launch, Pearl Abyss quickly rolled out update patches such as difficulty tuning, control improvements, and content and UI enhancements, which is seen as having strengthened the game's completeness and user experience. On the global platform Steam, user reviews for "Crimson Desert" currently remain "Very Positive."
Pearl Abyss also offered second-quarter guidance. The company forecast second-quarter sales at 271.3 billion to 324.7 billion won and operating profit at 129.6 billion to 176.7 billion won. Of that, it projected "Crimson Desert" IP sales at 224.2 billion to 276.5 billion won and "Black Desert" IP sales at 47.1 billion to 48.2 billion won.