Crimson Desert Stock Plummets After Mixed Reviews Despite Strong Sales

March 20, 2026 Rachel Kim – Technology Editor Technology

Seoul, South Korea – Shares of Pearl Abyss, the South Korean video game developer and publisher, plummeted nearly 30% on Wednesday, March 19, following the release of critical reviews for its highly anticipated open-world action RPG, Crimson Desert. The stock closed at approximately $30 per share, a loss of $13 and a decline of 29.88%, according to market reports.

The downturn followed the lifting of a review embargo on March 18, revealing a Metacritic score of 78 based on 85 critic reviews. While the score is subject to change as more reviews are published, it fell significantly short of market expectations, which, according to Seoul Economic Daily, were in the mid-to-high 80s.

“Apparently not good enough for investors,” commented Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO of Japan games industry consultancy firm Kantan Games, in a social media post. Pearl Abyss had invested heavily in Crimson Desert, with development spanning seven years and costing approximately 200 billion won (roughly $133 million), according to Seoul Economic Daily.

Despite the negative market reaction, early indicators suggest a potentially strong launch for Crimson Desert. Rhys Elliott, head of market analysis at Alinea Analytics, reported that the game was “on track for a killer launch on Steam.” As of early this week, pre-launch sales on Steam had reached nearly 400,000 copies, generating over $20 million in gross revenue. Elliott noted that Crimson Desert’s pre-launch performance exceeded that of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II by nearly four times ($5.2 million) and Expedition 33 by nearly ten times ($2.4 million) at comparable stages of their respective releases.

The game also demonstrated early sales strength in the console market. Toto pointed out that Crimson Desert currently ranks as the fourth best-selling game on the U.S. PlayStation chart, trailing only MLB The Display 26, NBA 2K26, and Fortnite. He characterized this as “very solid” performance for a relatively unknown intellectual property in the region.

Crimson Desert launched globally on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on March 20. Pearl Abyss has stated that an internet connection is required for initial setup and the installation of a day-one patch, but the game can be played offline once installation is complete.

IGN’s initial review of the PC version awarded a score of 6/10, though the publication noted that this score is not final.