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[Lunatic_Gamer]

Pearl Abyss revealed this information during the investor relations conference back in September 2024 and some of the details are only surfacing now thanks to a financial blogger who attended the event.

According to the information provided by the blogger, Pearl Abyss revealed that Sony's deal would prohibit them from releasing the game on Xbox consoles for a certain period of time. Luckily for Xbox gamers, Pearl Abyss said no to such an offer and decided to self-publish the game to maximise their profits.

Sony compared Crimson Desert to Ghost of Tsushima​

Interestingly, the financial blogger noted that Sony praised Crimson Desert, likening its atmosphere and story to their samurai blockbuster Ghost of Tsushima, which sold 10 million copies. It's possible that this was an attempt to sway Pearl Abyss in their decision, but the Korean company ultimately stood firm.

At this moment, we still don't know the exact release platforms for Crimson Desert. Even when Pearl Abyss revealed the recent gameplay just a month ago, they were only stating that the game is coming to "PC and consoles", refusing to mention which consoles specifically.

Sony wanted to make Crimson Desert a timed exclusive for PS5, but Pearl Abyss said no

It looks like Pearl Abyss' long-awaited action-adventure Crimson Desert will release across all platforms as Korean publisher want to maximise their profits.

www.altchar.com

 

[The Cockatrice]

Good.

 

[Fabieter]

"I don't understand why Sony continues with timed exclusives. It makes sense to finance a game and make it a permanent exclusive, but if you're going to start doing timed exclusives, you might as well stop doing exclusives altogether."

 

[ManaByte]

I think Pearl Abyss is just trying to get hype for their shitty AFK grind fest sequel.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

I think Pearl Abyss is just trying to get hype for their shitty AFK grind fest sequel.

The game looks awesome and better than anything Sony has for 2025.

 

[SweetTooth]

Its their loss

Edit: explanation for the triggered folks! Refusing millions to gain a fraction of that through Xbox is not a smart business decision.

 

[Clear]

The game looks awesome and better than anything Sony has for 2025.

Death Standing 2 looks better in every possible dimension.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Have been wondering what kind of business logic lets these types of deals seem attractive. Is the revenue from other platforms this bad compared to PS? What does Sony offer? I can't imagine a scenario where this makes sense for the developer unless they pay really well.

 

[GHG]

The game looks awesome and better than anything Sony has for 2025.

Ok, you play that then and avoid everything Sony puts out in 2025.

Let us know how you get on.

 

[Clear]

And seriously, regarding exclusivity lets not forget Black Desert was an Xbox timed exclusive back in 2017.

 

[Moses85]

 

[theStartupSound]

Even as someone who currently plays mostly on Xbox Series X, I don’t understand that Sony even thinks about exclusivity deals: Xbox is more or less dead to the main public, there is not much to gain from that exclusivity I would imagine.

The bigger threat could be PC, but that additional market seems to be needed to get the revenue nowadays.

 

[Gaiff]

Pearl Abyss saved Sony money. The Series S will ensure that this game is a timed PS console exclusive.

 

[ManaByte]

The game looks awesome and better than anything Sony has for 2025.

Is the sequel to Black Desert. It’s a Korean grind MMO where the only way to advance your character is to set up a AFK grind bot that plays the game 24/7 for you.

 

[Bartski]

rightfully so, hits that Sony AAA moneyhat qualty bar. Unless open world is shit - my bet after playing it is 83+ meta.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Death Standing 2 looks better in every possible dimension.

I agree, but Death Stranding has a lesser potential audience, it's not a mainstream game as this or Ghost.

Is the sequel to Black Desert. It’s a Korean grind MMO where the only way to advance your character is to set up a AFK grind bot that plays the game 24/7 for you.

But this is a single-player ARPG like TW3 or Dragon Dogma, which is why Sony saw the potential. It's not a MMO.

 

[Bartski]

Is the sequel to Black Desert. It’s a Korean grind MMO where the only way to advance your character is to set up a AFK grind bot that plays the game 24/7 for you.

BS

 

[The Cockatrice]

Is the sequel to Black Desert. It’s a Korean grind MMO where the only way to advance your character is to set up a AFK grind bot that plays the game 24/7 for you.

Stick to defending your garbage Marvel movies buddy cuz ure wrong.

 

[Moridianae]

Series S, of late, seems to give Sony timed exclusives anyway.

I know, a rather mean stab.

 

[StueyDuck]

And...

Company tried to make a deal with another company, they declined the offer.

This is truly some groundbreaking news. How will we recover

 

[GHG]

Is the sequel to Black Desert. It’s a Korean grind MMO where the only way to advance your character is to set up a AFK grind bot that plays the game 24/7 for you.

This isn't an MMO though.

I'm all for being sceptical due to the devs being unproven in terms of them making a single player open world game, but this isn't it.

 

[ArtHands]

Maybe Sony is cash strapped for timed exclusive

 

[ahtlas7]

And say no to Epic if they try that shit for PC.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

The game looks awesome and better than anything Sony has for 2025.

Better than Death Stranding 2, the new Ghost, etc? okay lmao

 

[Bojji]

Maybe Sony is cash strapped for timed exclusive

They shouldn't spent money on time exclusives after Concord...

Why not make real exclusives with your own studios Sony?

 

[KaiserBecks]

Sony compared it to Tsushima? Never heard of this game but now, you have my attention.

 

[midnightAI]

Death Standing 2 looks better in every possible dimension.

As does Ghost of Yotei

 

[Esparadrapo]

I'm still salty Pearl Abyss never even tried to implement the promotional raven haired sorceress mommy into the game.

 

[Ronin_7]

Ok?

 

[SJRB]

Wouldn’t have made much difference to any party involved either way.

 

[midnightAI]

One thing I don't get is that the report says that they turned down timed exclusivity because they wanted to self publish to maximise profits? they aren't mutually exclusive, you can self publish and get money for timed exclusivity, in fact, I think personally with the state of XBox I would have bitten their hand off for such a deal, many XBox gamers are conditioned into not buying their games, its been proven time and again so I would think the Sony deal would have been the better one if money was the driver (at the end of the day though, its their choice, and good that XBox gamers can buy the game if they so wish)

 

[Shadowplay1979]

Is the sequel to Black Desert. It’s a Korean grind MMO where the only way to advance your character is to set up a AFK grind bot that plays the game 24/7 for you.

I have 20 or so level 61 characters, i never grind. I dont even play that often. Its one of the best most realized open worlds, such great world building and environments

 

[Thief1987]

It just means that they weren't offered enough for it.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

"I don't understand why Sony continues with timed exclusives. It makes sense to finance a game and make it a permanent exclusive, but if you're going to start doing timed exclusives, you might as well stop doing exclusives altogether."

Do you want to always play as a second? That’s the logic.

 

[Larivel]

Sony please

 

[mdkirby]

"I don't understand why Sony continues with timed exclusives. It makes sense to finance a game and make it a permanent exclusive, but if you're going to start doing timed exclusives, you might as well stop doing exclusives altogether."

Because it can be relatively cheap for Sony, they only need to cover the estimated revenue from xbox (plus a little) which even for western third party games only take 20% of the sales vs Playstation, even more stark for asian/more playstation centric titles. For the dev, it means they don't need to prioritise dev time on getting it running on the SeriesS and can use those resources for more polish ahead of release, and its a nice guaranteed pay check, it can be a win win. MUCH more costly for Microsoft to do the equivalent.

Would have been a good get for Sony, so not surprising they tried because it looks bloody great.

 

[Cakeboxer]

I don't know why they're still wasting money on deals like that. Xbox is dead.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Because it can be relatively cheap for Sony, they only need to cover the estimated revenue from xbox (plus a little) which even for western third party games only take 20% of the sales vs Playstation, even more stark for asian/more playstation centric titles. For the dev, it means they don't need to prioritise dev time on getting it running on the SeriesS and can use those resources for more polish ahead of release, and its a nice guaranteed pay check, it can be a win win. MUCH more costly for Microsoft to do the equivalent.

Would have been a good get for Sony, so not surprising they tried because it looks bloody great.

For a timed exclusive, I doubt that they have to cover the estimated revenue from xbox, let alone a premium. First it's going to depend on how much time you're talking about. Presumably a year.

How much would you pay for lifetime exclusivity vs only a year? Probably like 70-80 percent.

I don't know why they're still wasting money on deals like that. Xbox is dead.

Assuming this is true, you have no idea when they approached them. The game was initially shown off in 2020...

 

[Sentenza]

Is the sequel to Black Desert. It’s a Korean grind MMO where the only way to advance your character is to set up a AFK grind bot that plays the game 24/7 for you.

This one is supposed to be a single player game.

 

[nial]

What does them wanting to self publish have to do with anything at all?

 

[mdkirby]

For a timed exclusive, I doubt that they have to cover the estimated revenue from xbox, let alone a premium. First it's going to depend on how much time you're talking about. Presumably a year.

How much would you pay for lifetime exclusivity vs only a year? Probably like 70-80 percent.



Assuming this is true, you have no idea when they approached them. The game was initially shown off in 2020...

As I understand, it’s sometimes simply that Sony will cover the marketing costs. Which are a pretty hefty expense…I actually think it could have been worth it, as I don’t think it’s being marketed that great at the moment, and most people, even if they have heard of it, seem to correlate it with black desert and have no idea it’s a single player epic, akin to the Witcher.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

As I understand, it’s sometimes simply that Sony will cover the marketing costs. Which are a pretty hefty expense…I actually think it could have been worth it, as I don’t think it’s being marketed that great at the moment, and most people, even if they have heard of it, seem to correlate it with black desert and have no idea it’s a single player epic, akin to the Witcher.

I expect 2025 and especially 2026 to be pretty light on these type of deals. I expect them to be pretty light going forward in general.

Sony's internal dev is catching up and the Xbox sales have really diminished basically everywhere outside of the US.

I wouldn't be surprised if they still do a GTA6 deal, but other than that, I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see anything new that wasn't already planned like with KOTOR possibly.

 

[wipeout364]

I have 20 or so level 61 characters, i never grind. I dont even play that often. Its one of the best most realized open worlds, such great world building and environments

That’s really interesting I always liked the art style in images but the rumors of the legendary grind always kept me away. Maybe I should download it if it is pretty decent from a time perspective.

 

[Cakeboxer]

Assuming this is true, you have no idea when they approached them. The game was initially shown off in 2020...

Why would the devs come up with this 4 years later? And in my book Xbox hardware is at least dead since mid of last gen.

 

[Shadowplay1979]

That’s really interesting I always liked the art style in images but the rumors of the legendary grind always kept me away. Maybe I should download it if it is pretty decent from a time perspective.

I mean its often on sale for a buck or five or sometimes free. When people whine about grind its past 61. There really is no past 61 but theres also no level cap so its a soft level cap. If you wanna keep grinding past that...do it...but you dont have to and theres no reason beyond clout

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Why would the devs come up with this 4 years later? And in my book Xbox hardware is at least dead since mid of last gen.

Rumors leak out all the time sometimes 10 years or 20 years later... not sure the value in that statement.

Maybe in your book, but Sony's out here trying to maximize their market share for the future.

 

[ManaByte]

This one is supposed to be a single player game.

And DokeV exists. They’re not giving up that MMO cash.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

Have been wondering what kind of business logic lets these types of deals seem attractive. Is the revenue from other platforms this bad compared to PS? What does Sony offer? I can't imagine a scenario where this makes sense for the developer unless they pay really well.

The standard is to pay at least the expected lost revenue, plus a bonus. Note that the "expected lost revenue" is dependent on how games sell on Xbox, which can be barely anything.

Sometimes the first game comes to all platforms, but the sequel ended up a timed exclusive when the dev gave up on Xbox.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

As does Ghost of Yotei

Those of you saying Ghost of Yotei, have we watched 1 hour of gameplay? Please send me link so I check it out. Last time I looked I only watched a cinematic trailer. Is that playable?

 

[Punished Miku]

Wouldn’t have made much difference to any party involved either way.

Timed 3rd party exclusives basically carried this whole year for Sony outside of Astro Bot. It obviously makes a big difference to some people on here. They basically treat these kinds of deals as if they were Sony 1st party games. We just saw that cringe article from Push Square / IGN bragging about it.