Pearl Abyss has quietly shifted the primary development crew behind Crimson Desert to their next project, DokeV. The move comes after Crimson Desert reached solid sales and received major post-launch fixes.

What the studio said

At a recent shareholder meeting, Pearl Abyss CEO Heo Jin-young explained that the company announced three new titles back in 2019. Development took longer than planned because the team was building the games and the game engine at the same time.

Same engine for both games

Both Crimson Desert and DokeV are being built on Pearl Abyss's new engine, Blackspace. Crimson Desert was the first product to use it. While DokeV's team had been handling graphic assets and other tasks in parallel, Crimson Desert demanded extra time, so the core development staff stayed focused on getting that release out the door.

Now the shift happens

With Crimson Desert released, the main development team can now concentrate on DokeV. According to the CEO, this should accelerate progress. Pearl Abyss estimates it will take about two to three years from the current timeline to finish development and polishing on DokeV.

Where Crimson Desert stands

  • Crimson Desert has sold through roughly 3 million copies since launch.
  • Early reviews improved after the game's first update.
  • Pearl Abyss rolled out a large patch that made several gameplay systems easier and fixed many issues.
  • The studio also issued a public apology over an AI art controversy that affected the community.

All of this suggests Pearl Abyss is trying to finish one project, fix what needs fixing, and then bring more resources to the next one. That should make DokeV move faster now that the heavy lifting on Crimson Desert is mostly done.

Thoughts on the team shift? Is it the sensible play or a risky reset? Drop your take below.