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Crimson Desert a 'Premium' Experience, Will Not Have Microtransactions, Pearl Abyss Confirms

Crimson Desert a 'Premium' Experience, Will Not Have Microtransactions, Pearl Abyss Confirms

Crimson Desert will not feature a cosmetic shop fuelled by microtransactions, Pearl Abyss said.

Written by Manas Mitul | Updated: 17 February 2026 12:41 IST

Crimson Desert a 'Premium' Experience, Will Not Have Microtransactions, Pearl Abyss Confirms

Photo Credit: Pearl Abyss

Crimson Desert is an open world action-adventure title

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Highlights

Crimson Desert will launch on March 19 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X
The Standard Edition of the game is priced $70 in the US
Pearl Abyss is the developer behind popular MMORPG Black Desert Online

Crimson Desert, the upcoming open world action-adventure game from Pearl Abyss, will not have microtransactions, the developer has confirmed. The studio said that the game will not come with a cosmetics shop. Crimson Desert will be a “premium” single-player experience and the upfront cost of buying the game will be the only transaction that players do.

No Microtransactions in Crimson Desert

The confirmation came from Pearl Abyss America marketing director Will Powers on the latest episode of Dropped Frames podcast. Answering a question about microtransactions, Powers said Crimson Desert was a “premium” game that you buy one time.

“I don't want to say that there's zero mtx (microtransactions) because there are pre-order bonuses. But anything that's announced and coming at launch is strictly cosmetic. Those are just the pre-order bonuses,” Powers said. “I can say that definitively: there is not a cosmetic cash shop [in the game]. This is made to be a premium experience that you buy and you enjoy the world and not something for microtransactions.”

Crimson Desert Has Officially Gone Gold, Pearl Abyss Confirms

Crimson Desert is set in the fictional fantasy world of Pywel
Photo Credit: Pearl Abyss

Powers further clarified Pearl Abyss' approach to monetisation. “Well, it's a monetisation model. If you do free-to-play, then you need to make up the revenue in a different way. This [Crimson Desert] is a premium experience. That is the transaction. Full stop,” he said.

Crimson Desert is a single-player action-adventure game priced $70 for the Standard Edition and $80 for the Deluxe Edition. Both editions come with cosmetic pre-order bonuses.

South Korean studio Pearl Abyss is known for developing the popular MMORPG, Black Desert Online. Crimson Desert is the company's first single-player game.

Last month, Pearl Abyss confirmed that Crimson Desert had gone gold. “We sincerely thank our fans around the world for being with us on this meaningful journey. Thanks to your support, we have reached this important milestone,” the studio said in its announcement at the time.

Crimson Desert is set to launch on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X on March 19. The open world game is currently up for pre-order across supported platforms.

Crimson Desert

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre RPG

Platform PlayStation 5 (PS5), Xbox Series S/X, PC: Windows

Modes Single-player

PEGI Rating 16+

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Further reading: Crimson Desert, Pearl Abyss

Manas Mitul

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In his time as a journalist, Manas Mitul has written on a wide spectrum of beats including politics, culture and sports. He enjoys reading, walking around in museums and rewatching films. Talk to Manas about football and tennis, but maybe don’t bring up his video game backlog. More