As Crimson Desert barrels towards its March release, the dev team has shot down rumours of microtransactions and stated it’s “a premium experience that you buy and enjoy the world.”
Crimson Desert continues to build steam as it heads towards its March 19 release date, and this time, the developers have confirmed that there will be no microtransactions at launch and the whole game will release at once (there will be no day-one DLC). The developers at Pearl Abyss confirmed this today, in an X (formerly Twitter) thread where the PR and Marketing Director for Pearl Abyss, Will Powers, responded to fans concerned about microtransactions.
In a previous appearance on episode 457 of the Dropped Frames podcast (found by GamesRadar), Will Powers detailed what titles should receive microtransactions, and detailed what kind of model Crimson Desert (a single-player RPG) would deploy. While Black Desert Online (another Pearl Abyss development) uses the microtransaction model, Powers affirms, “This is made to be a premium experience that you buy, and you enjoy the world, and not something for microtransactions,” adding, “It’s a monetization model. If you do free-to-play, then you need to make up the revenue in a different way. This is a premium experience. That is the transaction. Full stop.”
A fan then took to X to ask Powers for clarification, saying, “Did I hear incorrectly or hear a paraphrase? Crimson Desert will have absolutely zero microtransactions? No store?” Powers responded from his official X account to the question, stating, “That’s not what I said. There are preorder bonuses. I said, at launch no mtx,” clarifying further with “The overall point is that we’re not holding back content to sell separately.” This confirms Crimson Desert will launch as a complete experience, without day-one add-ons or DLC that have become popular (like Pokémon Legends: Z-A – Mega Dimension DLC announced BEFORE the title launched).
However, it is very possible Pearl Abyss could include DLC after launch if the title does well, Powers didn’t rule that out. Crimson Desert launches on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Mac on March 19.
