Crimson Desert has sold another million copies since Friday. Pearl Abyss announced this afternoon that the game has now surpassed 3 million copies sold worldwide, following a milestone of 2 million reached less than 24 hours after its initial launch last week.

“To everyone who has stepped into Pywel and shared this journey with us, thank you,” the studio wrote alongside the announcement.

Pearl Abyss PR and marketing director Will Powers amplified the figure, calling it an “amazing launch week” while assuring players the team would continue addressing issues. “We’re continuing to make the game better with all of your feedback,” Powers wrote.

Launch Has Not Been Smooth

The sales numbers tell a celebratory story. The launch itself has been more complicated.

Crimson Desert shipped with a range of technical problems that soured early play for a portion of its audience. The game refused to start via the Xbox App on PC for a significant number of players at launch, a problem that took days to fully resolve. Performance on a base PS5 model has been flagged consistently as below the standard the game’s trailer suggested, with frame rate drops in densely populated areas.

Control issues have also surfaced prominently in community feedback, with a number of players finding the keyboard and mouse implementation frustrating enough to request refunds. Pearl Abyss acknowledged this specifically and committed to improvements.

Not everything was negative. The cats are very good. Community enthusiasm for exploring the game’s open world and the mercenary systems has been high, and the core combat has been well-received.

The Patch

Pearl Abyss released a sizeable patch yesterday covering a wide range of the issues raised since launch. Bug fixes, quality of life changes, and new keyboard shortcuts were included, with the studio describing the keyboard and mouse improvements as “the beginning” of a broader round of changes.

“7 days has come far but it’s still not where we want it to be,” is a phrase being discussed in the Crimson Desert community this week, borrowed from a separate game announcement but applied with some accuracy to the launch state of Pearl Abyss’s game.

The Bigger Picture

Six years of development, multiple delays, and more showcase appearances than most games get in a lifetime: Crimson Desert was always going to arrive carrying expectations it would struggle to fully meet in week one.

3 million sales in a launch week is a strong commercial result by any measure. The technical problems are real but fixable. Pearl Abyss’s communication since launch has been clear and responsive, which matters more than whether day one was perfect.

For a full breakdown of what the game offers, see our Crimson Desert preview. For help while playing, we have guides on getting started in Pywel as the situation develops.

Updated: 24 March 2026.