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Crimson Desert is one of many anticipated games set to release in 2026, and developer Pearl Abyss has confirmed on X that the game has officially gone gold. This means it is approved for distribution, effectively locking in its March 19 release date, allowing us to experience the open-world that’s bigger than Skyrim soon.
Pearl Abyss is a South Korean developer best known for the Black Desert Online MMO. While Black Desert is a massive multiplayer online experience comparable to World of Warcraft, Crimson Desert is a single-player RPG featuring gorgeous visuals and a massive open world, comparable to The Witcher 3.
As for the size of the open world, Pearl Abyss’ Will Powers revealed earlier this month in a New Game Plus Showcase interview that it’s “at least twice as big as the open world, the playable area, of Skyrim”. Powers also claims that “it’s larger than the map of Red Dead Redemption 2”.
Although Crimson Desert is fully single-player, Pearl Abyss has previously revealed plans during a call with investors to release a separate multiplayer mode post-launch, with comparisons made to GTA Online. This mode will presumably allow players to create their own character, as the extensive Black Desert Online character creation suite is sadly absent from the single-player experience in favor of the main protagonist, Macduff.
We’ve seen some incredible gameplay demos for Crimson Desert, notably featuring Baldur’s Gate 3 Astarion voice actor Neil Newbon. Crimson Desert was first announced in 2019, so thankfully, there are only a couple more months to wait before we can finally jump in.
March was previously packed with major releases, but Saros has been delayed to April, with 007 First Light also delayed to May. The Assassin’s Creed Black Flag remake is also seemingly delayed from its March release to FY2027.
Despite these delays, March still remains busy, as Bungie has confirmed Marathon for March 5, and Square Enix has also recently announced the return of Chloe and Max in Life Is Strange Reunion on March 26.
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