[DigitalToday reporter Hojeong Lee] Pearl Abyss' open-world action-adventure game "Crimson Desert" tops 2 million copies in sales within a day of its global launch on March 20. Selling 2 million copies on release day is a first for a Korean game. Users raised complaints about controls soon after launch, and Pearl Abyss says in an official statement that it is preparing a patch to improve the issue.

On March 22, the industry says Pearl Abyss posted on its official social media on the night of March 20 that the game sold more than 2 million copies worldwide. "Crimson Desert" recorded about 240,000 peak concurrent users on Steam on the day. It reached that level within about 2 hours of release.

"Crimson Desert" is a title released after more than 7 years of development. It launched simultaneously on multiple platforms including PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Steam, Apple Mac, Epic Games Store and ROG Xbox Ally. Ahead of release, it ranked No. 1 in popularity on Steam and the North American PS Store, drawing high expectations in Western markets.

But the early success was accompanied by complaints about controls. Users raised dissatisfaction from right after release over in-game handling, button layout and convenience features. Complaints were voiced in and outside South Korea, especially by keyboard and mouse users. Steam user reviews remained at a level with a low share of positive ratings.

Pearl Abyss posted on its official social media on the night of March 21 that it is aware of the inconvenience many people felt, especially related to controls, and is preparing a patch to improve it. It apologised to keyboard and mouse users for failing to provide a satisfactory gameplay experience, and said it will improve various control methods together.

Pearl Abyss said it is continuously checking the gameplay experience through bug reports and a range of opinions from videos, livestreams and communities. It added that each report provided by users is a big help in developing the game.