Without a doubt, one of 2026's biggest success stories in gaming is Crimson Desert, the long-awaited open-world fantasy action RPG from Black Desert Online developer Pearl Abyss that finally launched after being announced seven years ago. Though it opened to a rather mixed reception, several quick and large updates have ironed out many of its issues, and it's grown into quite a popular title.
Indeed, the massive title now enjoys a "Very Positive" rating on Steam, with 86% of its 51,616 user reviews awarding it a blue thumbs up of approval. It also peaked at 276,261 concurrent players on Valve's PC gaming platform alone — and earlier this month, it hit a very impressive milestone of 5 million copies sold globally across Xbox, PC, and PS5.
Now, a few weeks later, Pearl Abyss has rewarded every one of its employees with a large bonus to celebrate that achievement. Specifically, each member of the studio's staff was paid 5 million won (roughly $3,400) on April 23, according to a new report from Korean news site MTN.
Notably, Pearl Abyss has a total of 733 workers according to the developer's 2025 end-of-year business report. If MTN's reporting is accurate, that would mean that the studio just gave nearly $2.5 million in bonuses to its employees. That's quite a nice payout, to put things lightly.
"I express my deep respect and gratitude for the hard work of each and every one of you who created a product that the world is enthusiastic about, and I am paying a celebratory bonus for achieving 5 million sales to all employees who have silently fulfilled their roles in their respective positions," said Pearl Abyss CEO Heo Jin-young internally, according to MTN.
"Our journey does not end here. The potential we confirmed today will be the most powerful driving force to overcome any challenge we face in the future," he added.
It's very cool to see Pearl Abyss' employees rewarded with a sizable bonus payment. Not only is Crimson Desert an incredibly impressive achievement that delivers enjoyable open-world action gameplay on a scale that's almost unparalleled, but its developers have worked hard and fast to quickly address major complaints about things like the game's control scheme and its (original) lack of storage for gear.
That effort has won the trust and appreciation of thousands upon thousands of players, and has done wonders for the reputation of both the action RPG as well as Pearl Abyss as a studio.
I'm not sure if Crimson Desert will be a Game of the Year winner — it's got stiff competition from Resident Evil Requiem and Pragmata, and of course, GTA 6 might win simply because it's GTA 6 — but it's undoubtedly a strong contender for the coveted award, and I'd be shocked if it didn't at least get nominated.
The game is available right now across Xbox Series X|S, PC, Mac, and PS5 for $69.99, though the PC version is $58.29 at Loaded and the Xbox one is $60.99 at Loaded. On Xbox, it supports Xbox Play Anywhere, enabling cross-save and ownership across Xbox and Xbox on PC as long as you use the same Microsoft account for both.
What's your opinion of Crimson Desert? Have you played it yet? If so, are you still playing? Let me know down below.
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