Pearl Abyss Delays Release of Crimson Desert to Early 2026
Pearl Abyss has officially announced that the highly anticipated game, Crimson Desert, will not be hitting shelves in late 2025 as previously expected. Instead, fans can now look forward to its release in early 2026. The game was first unveiled back in 2020 with an initial launch date set for 2021, but was later postponed in August 2021. The latest update on the release timeline came during an earnings call reported by Gematsu. Less than a year ago, a trailer was released by Pearl Abyss teasing the late 2025 release window.
During the earnings call, Pearl Abyss provided insight into the current status of Crimson Desert, stating, “Currently, Crimson Desert has been in the process of voice-overs, while also carrying out tasks such as console certification in preparation for its release. In the case of marketing, we plan to participate in Gamescom and PAX West this August to showcase our open-world build. And in September, we will join the Tokyo Game Show to strengthen our marketing efforts in the Japanese market. The launch of Crimson Desert, our first large-scale AAA console game, has been unavoidably delayed by one quarter, from the previously announced schedule. This is due to longer than expected timelines arising from schedule coordination and collaborations with multiple partners for offline distribution, voice-overs, console certification, and other launch preparations. We sincerely apologize for not being able to meet the originally promised fourth quarter launch schedule. Please kindly understand that this is a strategic decision aimed at insuring success on a meaningful scale.
The release date has been internally confirmed for Q1 2026. However, given the change in launch timing, we will announce the date at a more appropriate time based on business considerations, rather than making an announcement at Gamescom next week. We are grateful for your continued interest in our company, and we will do our utmost to deliver an even better experience going forward.”
In our preview of Crimson Desert, Stefan expressed his excitement, saying, “We only had around an hour to make our way through these boss fights, and didn’t get to see the wider open world, but I’m already impressed by what I saw. There’s a great deal of variation between these four encounters, the combat mechanics have plenty of depths to master, the visuals look great, and that’s all before the promise of the huge open world outside of these moments. Sure, it’s a bit of a hodge podge of ideas, but if you embrace that, then Crimson Desert is absolutely one to keep an eye on as it heads to release later this year”
Source: Gematsu
