{"id":1774249,"date":"2026-02-16T15:23:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T12:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1774249"},"modified":"2026-02-16T15:23:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T12:23:41","slug":"this-is-made-to-be-a-premium-experience-crimson-desert-has-no-microtransactions-despite-its-black-desert-online-pedigree-says-pearl-abyss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1774249","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;This is made to be a premium experience&#8221; Crimson Desert has no microtransactions despite its Black Desert Online pedigree, says Pearl Abyss"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/crimson-desert\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Crimson Desert<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">&#8220;This is made to be a premium experience&#8221; Crimson Desert has no microtransactions despite its Black Desert Online pedigree, says Pearl Abyss<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">There are pre-order bonuses though.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Crimson-Desert-closeup-main-custom.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Crimson Desert - closeup custom main image\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"Crimson-Desert-closeup-main-custom.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Eurogamer\/Pearl Abyss<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/fran-j-ruiz-author.png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"fran-j-ruiz-author.png\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/fran-ruiz\">Fran Ruiz<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-02-16T15:23:41+00:00\">Feb. 16, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/crimson-desert-has-no-microtransactions-at-launch-says-pearl-abyss?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          1 comment<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"10cf2e53-bea5-44e6-bc6c-98d8a341d473\" data-name=\"Crimson Desert\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Crimson Desert\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Crimson Desert\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Crimson Desert\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Crimson Desert\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Crimson Desert\" title=\"Follow Crimson Desert\"><br \/>\n  Follow Crimson Desert<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/crimson-desert\">Crimson Desert<\/a> has slowly but steadily become one of 2026&#8217;s open world games to watch out for, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/visually-impressive-open-world-fantasy-adventure-crimson-desert-goes-gold-locks-march-launch\">with a March release date now locked<\/a>, lots of people are seriously starting to consider making a trip to Pywel soon. At the same time, veterans might have reservations about jumping in at launch based on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/black-desert-online\">Black Desert Online<\/a>&#8216;s MTX-heavy model.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, large numbers of microtransactions and optional cosmetics are to be expected any time a game&#8217;s model is free-to-play, and Pearl Abyss&#8217; PR and marketing director Will Powers reminded everyone of that during his appearance in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MR9QMXJuGx4\">episode 457 of the Dropped Frames<\/a> podcast (hat tip to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamesradar.com\/games\/open-world\/that-is-the-transaction-crimson-desert-wont-have-microtransactions-says-pearl-abyss-because-the-promising-open-world-game-is-a-premium-experience\/\">GamesRadar<\/a>): &#8220;It&#8217;s a monetization model: if you do free-to-play, then you need to make up the revenue in a different way.&#8221; Easy to understand if you&#8217;ve been playing video games in the last 20 years or so, but we all know we often need to make things as clear as possible.<\/p>\n<p>You can&#8217;t blame veterans for thinking even a strictly single-player game like Crimson Desert (which did start off as an online project) could be filled with microtransactions \u00e0 la Assassin&#8217;s Creed though. After all, it&#8217;d be easy for Pearl Abyss to pull the trigger on those if the game is a massive success, as we know for a fact players typically like putting more money into the experiences they greatly enjoy.<\/p>\n<p>Powers shot such thoughts and comments down quickly: &#8220;This is made to be a premium experience that you buy and enjoy the world, and not something for microtransactions.&#8221; Here&#8217;s where we underline such decisions are above his pay grade and anything could happen post-launch, but it seems that&#8217;s where Pearl Abyss officially stands right now. If you&#8217;re picking up Crimson Desert, you&#8217;re getting a traditional, fully featured open-world adventure with no cosmetics or mounts earned via MTX. &#8220;This is a premium experience. That is the transaction. Like, full stop.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>That said, <a href=\"https:\/\/crimsondesert.pearlabyss.com\/en-US\/Main\">Crimson Desert has three different editions<\/a> (both digital and physical) up for pre-order at the time of writing, each of which with extra items and cosmetics, so you&#8217;re definitely missing out on some stuff if you simply pick up the cheaper version. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WillJPowers\/status\/2023218876105072790?s=20\">Powers has acknowledged those<\/a> on X\/Twitter though: &#8220;The overall point is that we&#8217;re not holding back content to sell separately.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In any case, I doubt anyone was fearing Crimson Desert could be short on content, as every piece of footage from the game we&#8217;ve seen suggests <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vU4euv-AX4E\">it&#8217;s trying to do <em>almost <\/em>everything<\/a> the devs came up with during the concept and planning stage. Will it pay off? It won&#8217;t be long before we find out, as the game launches on PS5, Xbox Series X\/S, PC, and even Mac on 19th March.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/crimson-desert\">Crimson Desert<\/a> has slowly but steadily become one of 2026&#8217;s open world games to watch out for, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/visually-impressive-open-world-fantasy-adventure-crimson-desert-goes-gold-locks-march-launch\">with a March release date now locked<\/a>, lots of people are seriously starting to consider making a trip to Pywel soon. At the same time, veterans might have reservations about jumping in at launch based on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/black-desert-online\">Black Desert Online<\/a>&#8216;s MTX-heavy model.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, large numbers of microtransactions and optional cosmetics are to be expected any time a game&#8217;s model is free-to-play, and Pearl Abyss&#8217; PR and marketing director Will Powers reminded everyone of that during his appearance in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MR9QMXJuGx4\">episode 457 of the Dropped Frames<\/a> podcast (hat tip to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamesradar.com\/games\/open-world\/that-is-the-transaction-crimson-desert-wont-have-microtransactions-says-pearl-abyss-because-the-promising-open-world-game-is-a-premium-experience\/\">GamesRadar<\/a>): &#8220;It&#8217;s a monetization model: if you do free-to-play, then you need to make up the revenue in a different way.&#8221; Easy to understand if you&#8217;ve been playing video games in the last 20 years or so, but we all know we often need to make things as clear as possible.<\/p>\n<p>You can&#8217;t blame veterans for thinking even a strictly single-player game like Crimson Desert (which did start off as an online project) could be filled with microtransactions \u00e0 la Assassin&#8217;s Creed though. After all, it&#8217;d be easy for Pearl Abyss to pull the trigger on those if the game is a massive success, as we know for a fact players typically like putting more money into the experiences they greatly enjoy.<\/p>\n<p>Powers shot such thoughts and comments down quickly: &#8220;This is made to be a premium experience that you buy and enjoy the world, and not something for microtransactions.&#8221; Here&#8217;s where we underline such decisions are above his pay grade and anything could happen post-launch, but it seems that&#8217;s where Pearl Abyss officially stands right now. If you&#8217;re picking up Crimson Desert, you&#8217;re getting a traditional, fully featured open-world adventure with no cosmetics or mounts earned via MTX. &#8220;This is a premium experience. That is the transaction. Like, full stop.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>That said, <a href=\"https:\/\/crimsondesert.pearlabyss.com\/en-US\/Main\">Crimson Desert has three different editions<\/a> (both digital and physical) up for pre-order at the time of writing, each of which with extra items and cosmetics, so you&#8217;re definitely missing out on some stuff if you simply pick up the cheaper version. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WillJPowers\/status\/2023218876105072790?s=20\">Powers has acknowledged those<\/a> on X\/Twitter though: &#8220;The overall point is that we&#8217;re not holding back content to sell separately.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In any case, I doubt anyone was fearing Crimson Desert could be short on content, as every piece of footage from the game we&#8217;ve seen suggests <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vU4euv-AX4E\">it&#8217;s trying to do <em>almost <\/em>everything<\/a> the devs came up with during the concept and planning stage. Will it pay off? It won&#8217;t be long before we find out, as the game launches on PS5, Xbox Series X\/S, PC, and even Mac on 19th March.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Crimson Desert &#8220;This is made to be a premium experience&#8221; Crimson Desert has no microtransactions despite its Black Desert Online pedigree, says Pearl Abyss There are pre-order bonuses though. Image credit: Eurogamer\/Pearl Abyss News by Fran Ruiz Contributor Published on Feb. 16, 2026 1 comment Follow Crimson Desert Crimson Desert has slowly but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1774249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1774249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1774249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1774249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1774249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}