Crimson desert development team shifts to new project after release

Crimson Desert team moves to DokeV project after launch, with development expected to take two to three years

Pearl Abyss has confirmed that the core development team behind Crimson Desert has transitioned to a new project following the game’s release, marking a shift in focus for the studio’s future titles.

Speaking during a recent shareholder meeting, chief executive Heo Jin-young outlined the company’s long-term development strategy, referencing three projects originally announced in 2019. He explained that progress had taken time due to the studio simultaneously building its proprietary Blackspace engine alongside game development.

Crimson Desert, which launched on March 19 for PS5, PC and Xbox Series X/S, was the first title to utilise the Blackspace engine. With the game now complete and released, its main development team has been reassigned to work on DokeV, one of the remaining projects in Pearl Abyss’s pipeline.

According to Jin-young, development on DokeV is already underway, with teams handling graphic asset production and other tasks in parallel. He indicated that the project will require additional time before completion, estimating that it will take “about two to three years from the current timeline to completion and polishing.”

The announcement provides insight into Pearl Abyss’s development cycle, highlighting how resources are redistributed once a major title reaches release. The use of the same Blackspace engine across multiple projects is also expected to streamline development processes for future games.

Crimson Desert has reportedly achieved strong early performance, surpassing three million sales shortly after launch. The transition of its core team to DokeV signals the company’s continued focus on expanding its portfolio of large-scale titles while building on the technology introduced with its latest release.

Further details about DokeV’s gameplay, release window, and platform availability have not yet been disclosed.