Crimson Desert’s Story Was Decided Last Minute Says Former Dev

While Pearl Abyss’ Crimson Desert manages to do a lot of things right, it does have a gaping hole when it comes to the story — or more specifically, the lack of it.

It seems there’s a reason why this open-world action-RPG doesn’t have a grand, sweeping narrative like its brethren, and it’s due to the game’s story being an afterthought more than anything else.

Not only that, but a developer even sheds light on the game’s development, which doesn’t paint a bright picture of what happened before release.

Crimson Desert’s Story Woes Explained

In a couple of posts on Blind, a platform where game devs can post anonymously and is only accessible by verified industry professionals, it talks about the game’s story or why there seems to be a lack of it, as well as the work culture that turned people into “yes men” more than anything else.

This bears attention, given that the people who posted these said accusations must verify their identity using their corporate email, which also shows their current workplace. In short: this is a lot weightier than just some random person posting something on an online forum (thanks, 1stGuard).

The info about the story comes from a former Pearl Abyss developer who has since moved on to Nexon. The text is translated from Korean to English, so there are some minor grammatical errors, and we’ve refrained from touching any of the text to not miscontrue what the poster said.

Crimson Desert originally wasn’t like this…

People playing Crimson Desert or those in the industry will probably feel it vaguely. Why there is no talk about the “Crimson Desert” in Crimson Desert.
If the title is Crimson Desert, things related to it should appear, but in the story, they don’t appear at all.
Do you know why?
It is because the story was not decided until right before release.
Therefore, a story trailer could not come out, and since it is a story about a mercenary group, there is inevitably no talk about the mercenary group.
The fact that it proceeds only with the protagonist Kliff is also for this reason.
Additionally, Kliff was originally named “Macbeth”, but the name was changed because it has serial killer vibe…?

For the story, originally, it started with a young king, who had his throne usurped, coming to the Grey Mane Mercenaries.
A middle-aged prime minister(?) who was looking after the young king and a young princess came and asked to make them royalty.
And it was content about recapturing a type of “currency” manufactured from minerals that can only be collected in the regional area of the “Crimson Desert.” So, in the process of occupying the Crimson Desert to seize hegemony and making them royalty—
This middle-aged prime minister was supposed to betray them and try to become king himself, and the story was about stopping that and winning.

In the middle of it, a director was pushed out in a power struggle and resigned, and once someone from an art background became the General Manager, they started overturning everything. This person who became General Manager is a general manager in name only; they are just a compliant subordinate. And every person in the team who holds a rank is just a compliant subordinate.
Individual will? Personal opinion? They do not exist. That is why they can hold a rank.

The current result is what happened as everything began to be overturned for art. Even Ervin was originally that young king’s bodyguard and was a man.
When Zelda Tears of the Kingdom came out they hurriedly followed and made sky island that makes no sense. They brought in functions from various games as references, but without understanding at all why those functions were put into those games; they exist only as a means for a purpose.

If it looks cool, they just put it in, and once it is implemented, they gather among themselves and applaud; I don’t know what to call this if not “a frog in a well.”
Always trash talking on Unreal Engine, they don’t try the next games when they come out and only watch YouTube and trash talk about it, and they claim God of War is just trash game that looks good. As a fan of God of War hearing them say it’s just a game with good visual without knowing even 1% of Kratos’s narrative makes me sigh.

Anyway, as someone who also participated in the game, I hoped it would do well, but I am sad that the result is like this.
I am sad because it feels like it has decorated a page of gaming history in many ways, really.
However, on the contrary, it is a relief to have it confirmed that a good game cannot come out of such a corporate culture.

Other Pearl Abyss employes have reportedly reacted to the post and agreed with what was said.

Crimson Desert’s Development Was Filled With Leaders That Were “Yes Men”

The second poster is a current Pearl Abyss dev who explains the work culture at the studio, and how it’s structured like an “inverted pyramid,” where leaders seek yes men and those who think alike rather than anyone talking back and providing resistance.

I was part of the Crimson Desert development team for a long time. Even as I write this, I’ve deleted and restarted this post several times, wondering if this is the right thing to do. Please excuse me if this feels a bit disorganized.

In our company, we collectively call anyone at the team leader level or above a “Leader.” Our CEO announced in front of the entire staff that the company would be structured like an inverted pyramid, placing more “Leaders” than rank-and-file employees. Once, a high-ranking Leader said to me, “Do you know why you can’t be one of us? It’s because a Leader has to be someone who looks in the same direction we do.”

What that actually meant was that they only want people who unconditionally say “Yes,” follow orders, and never talk back. In other words, every head at the top of that inverted pyramid is filled with people who think exactly the same way.

I believe most of my colleagues involved in development were aware that Crimson Desert was going off the rails. However, I don’t think many were in a position to speak up about it. As I mentioned, they don’t acknowledge anyone who doesn’t share their exact mindset.

They just praise their own work as “amazing,” and whenever they see a reference from here or there that looks good, they just shove it in. Because it became such a hodgepodge of features crammed together, the control layout must have been a mess too.

I believe it was an inevitable conclusion that Crimson Desert would become a disaster. I don’t think a proper direction can ever emerge from a company that suppresses people for calling out what is wrong.

I’ve been rambling late into the night, but watching the reviews and streamers play Crimson Desert makes me feel bittersweet. All the common flaws users point out are the exact things we used to gather and say, “Isn’t this a bit weird?”

From here on out, I expect they will try to shift the blame—digging through the development history of individuals to find someone to pin the responsibility on for why it turned out this way.

Anyway, to my colleagues who developed Crimson Desert, to those who left for various reasons, and to those in the industry who supported us: you’ve all worked so hard, and thank you. The industry is very cold and harsh right now, but I hope everyone stays strong.

Bear in mind, these are stlll anonymous reports, and while Blind does add a layer or two of authenticity to it, at the end of the day, it’s best to take things with a grain of salt.

At the end of the day, game development is a tough field to be in, and there’s bound to be a lot of finger-pointing. Crimson Desert seems to have turned out well enough to create a few waves, and let’s hope Pearl Abyss uses that momentum to iron out the bugs, controls, UI and more.

It is a bit worrying though that the developers didn’t say Intel Arc GPU’s wouldn’t work with the title until the day it released.

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