Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect - "CRIMSON DESERT HAS ALREADY SOLD 2 MILLION COPIES (SPOTIFY EXCLUSIVE VIDEO VERSION)"

Episode Date: March 23, 2026

Linktree: ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠⁠Join The Normandy For Ad-Free NME, Additional Bonus Audio And Visual Content For All Things Nme+! Join Here:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://ow.ly/msoH50WCu0K⁠⁠Dive into the explosive launch of Crimson Desert, Pearl Abyss's ambitious open-world action RPG, released March 19, 2026, across PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Mac. In this segment of Notorious Mass Effect, Analytic Dreamz breaks down the staggering Day 1 metrics and the mixed reception shaping its post-launch trajectory.The game shattered expectations with over 2 million copies sold worldwide in under 24 hours, generating an estimated ~$140 million in revenue. Pre-launch signals were strong: 3 million Steam wishlists and roughly 400,000 early PC sales contributing $20+ million. On Steam launch day, it rocketed into the Top 3 most-played titles, peaking at 239,045 concurrent players—trailing only Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2—with over 16,000 user reviews yielding a “Mostly Positive” rating after an initial “Mixed” snapshot.Critically, Crimson Desert earned a Metacritic score of 78, reflecting mixed-to-moderately positive reviews. Players praise the massive Pywel world, deep combat, and sandbox systems like fishing, cooking, and hunting, but common complaints target complex controls, “janky” controller feel, overly dense menus, performance issues, bugs, weak story elements, and bland objectives. Controversies include accusations of undisclosed AI-generated assets in artwork and signage, raising potential Steam policy concerns.Investor reaction was sharp: Pearl Abyss stock plunged nearly 30% initially, with a 40%+ decline over five days, as the score fell short of lofty expectations tied to the game's long development and hype.Pearl Abyss responded humbly, acknowledging the “incredibly” strong sales, vowing rapid patches for controls, performance, and gameplay streamlining. With no microtransactions but Denuvo DRM in place, the $69.99 title stands as a maximalist single-player epic.Analytic Dreamz analyzes this as a classic high-hype AAA case: unmatched commercial momentum and engagement outpacing critical consensus. Long-term success depends on swift fixes to technical woes and controversies—proving sales dominance can fuel redemption in a demanding market.Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Shepard. Promise me you'll tell them to subscribe for a free content. Now, of course, when it comes to the gaming industry, we was all waiting for that one game to drop in the year of 2026. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is GTA6. Shepard. All right, my fault. But, you know, in all seriousness, we are here to get into Crimson Desert. And we have to stop those applause short because, of course, we have a lot to get into, ladies and gentlemen. Now this is going to be a very objective take because you know over here we dive into the gaming and music IPs that notoriously affect the masses and safe to say Crimson Desert is objectively speaking one of the most notoriously affecting the masses type of games that we've received in the year of 2026. Now before we get into the sales because of course it's very is very exciting for the Crimson Desert fan to look at the sales but I do want to get into some of the behind the scenes as far as how this game even came

to fruition. As if you don't know, if you never played Black Desert Online, just no majority of the revenue, I'm not going to say all, but a good amount of revenue from Black Desert Online, while, of course, Pearl Abyss, which is the developers and publisher of this game, putting up money for this specific game for seven years, a reported budget of $200 billion. And when you think it's USD, of course not. it is uh k r w which is south korean wine which of course that translates into 133 million usd i don't know if translates the right word basically converts into 133 million u sd so safe to say a timeline of seven years a budget of 133 million usd and then hold them now you still found the time to use AI slot.

Shepard. Just look at the state of gaming. Like, what is going on? Now, of course, I don't like the BASHA game because when it comes to the review and Sales Roundup, I like to give you a concise perception of

the gaming audience as far as a specific game. Safe to say, this is a solid, at the very minimum, at the very least, this is a solid game, basically. Anyways, as far as seven years, 133 million dollar budget of course some revenue from black desert online being used for the development cycle the main reason why bring up the funding for this particular game because if you don't know when crin

desert came out which was uh march 19 2026 when crimson desert came out pearl abyss stock dropped hold them now you probably think it to yourself hold them now i know that is uh crimson desert did not just come out be such a phenomenally received game and then the investors started to pull out why could that be well i'm glad you asked you guys when it comes to crimson desert the investors started to pull out because of the medic critic i kid you not i kid you not you can't make it up the investors look at the metacritic reviews and they said to themselves it's about to be a ginormous flop and while you can't blame them because you know games like high guard games like uh there's a lot of uh uh there's a lot of uh was Concord, like those type of games do exist, right, where the review just completely bombard the game and take the enjoyment from everybody playing it.

One of the prime examples from a good game receiving this type of backlash is Marathon. In my opinion, I think Marathon is a pretty solid game. And of course, the reviews would make it to where the investors probably want to hold back because a lot of people don't want to play it for the simple fact that the perception is so negative. if it is so heavily deterring people away from the game anyways so the investors poured out a pearl abyss right uh 29 to 30 percent so it's 65 000 to 46 000 uh let's get the actual currency again uh south korean wine so when it comes to that that was seen as uh the investors seeing this game seeing the reaction for this game as disappointing right they basically said the disappointing critic scores not meeting the high anticipation for the for the potential blockbuster made them pull off. But the initial plunge was also tied to, well, still tied to the reviews. But it's more of a market reaction

and basically goals should show that these investors do not know a thing about the game industry. They only care about the bottom line. And when they saw or they foresaw that it was going to be effective by the reviews, they jump ship expeditiously. So shame on them as I would be here, you know, I'm here to tell you, Crimson Desert is a success. Objectively speaking, it is currently one of the most play games in the world, and not only that, but it sold $3 million as far as Steam Wishlist, pre-launched Steam sales estimated to be 400,000 copies.

And of course, when you look at the sales as of right now, it is currently the sixth most game, The sixth most game. That's crazy. The sixth most play game on Steam, 95,000 players concurrently playing an all-time peak of 14 hours ago of 248,000. Of course, you look at Xbox. There's nowhere to be found

because people like to play this game on PlayStation. And so on PlayStation, it's the second-most play game of all time. And then Nintendo... Shepard. All right, my fault. I was going to make a joke about Nintendo not having any games, but I'm just going to plainly tell y'all

that Crimson Desert is not on Nintendo Switch. Shepard. Just look at the state of gaming. Like, what is going on? So as far as looking at the state of gaming, safe to say the current hype for this game was matched by the engagement from the consumers, as it's currently one of the most play games in the world. Of course, when you look at it selling two million plus copies worldwide, it's safe to say that's a phenomenal feat. Because, of course, when you compare this game to other games that had this type of mammoth of an impact of a notorious. impact, you know, a tourist mass effect, if I do say so myself.

Crimson Desert doing $2 million in one day is very reminiscent of Elder Ring and Night Ring, Eldering Night Rain that sold $2 million in one day. Clear Obscura Expedition 33. That sold $1 million in three days. Pocopio, that sold $2.2 million in four days. You get the point. Basically, Crimson Desert is already a success. How big of a success is it going to be?

The world may never know because the discourse around this game, you would have thought it was Crips and Bloods the way that people just going at each other's next. But then you know what I'm saying? I was like, damn, look at the state of hip hop. Like, what's going on? So that's why your boy dreams is here to give it to you

A more than 92 and basically give you the objective facts and let you do of that information as you will because of course, I don't want to go at this game for no reason. With that being said, let's go to some particular fair reasons, if I do say so myself, on why this game is being targeted

as ladies and gentlemen you thought we was going to start off with the game well technically we are exhibit number one now i'm no lawyer but at the end of the day this is illegal allegedly you know i have to say allegedly because you know i was looking you know i do my research your boy does his research right and of course when it comes to policies um safe to say steam require hold on let me pull this up just in case i think i'm joking so your boy does his research hold on let me let me let me pull this up right quick So there's a specific policy that you have to follow, putting our games, right? Read this along with me, right? And you know, I'm not trying to be that person, you know what I'm saying?

I'm saying, I ain't trying to be that person. You know, that's supposed to be my snitch drop. I don't know why young thug keeps playing. But anyways, this is a specific policy in Steam, right? Let's read this with me, ladies and gentlemen, analytic dreams video on Spotify to see the video along with audio. Steam requires, requires disclosure of generative AI use. Hmm. Content created slash trained with it. That's interesting. On store pages. Crimson Desert. Hold on now. I know that ain't who I think it is. Hold on now. I know that ain't who I think it is.

Is that who I think it is? You guys. Crimson Desert. Let me circle this for y'all. You know my circle is pretty terrible. Yeah, my dad. It's bad. Let me circle again. Let me see. Crimson Desert initially had none. You guys. Potentially violating rules, risk of removal slash remediation. But after backlash, Pearl Abyss added the disclosure post-launch. Shepard.

Just look at the state of gaming. Like, what is going on? Now, that is why I'm about to pull up all these exhibits because if it wasn't for the community, I say if it wasn't for the community, once again that's supposed to be my snitch and drop anyways um if it wasn't for the gaming community banding together to point out the use of AI in this particular game where would pearl abyss ever would they have ever added this disclosure post launch of course not and that's exactly my issue you guys

see that's the problem because at first glance I was thinking you know what people probably just hating on this game once I dive into it find out that most people said it was a solid game at very least right now whether you think it's a great game or just mediocre that's up to you but nobody's coming out saying this is a terrible game and in fact people are saying the opposite people saying with time this could turn into a cyberpunk 2077 type of return to form because you know there's a lot of things that they have to they have to fix right which we're going to get into the patch notes in the second but basically with this particular game nobody is saying it's bad the only thing that's like people are coming out saying this below sea level as far as quality is

the story. People say the story is non-existent, but everything else is pretty solid to above average. So anyways, that's why I'm putting this out, because if they wanted to treat the gaming community as we was low IQ, you know, one of my favorite content creators, the Black Okade, he has this particular drop where I think it's like, I forget what it's called, it's like an old computer sound effect he used. I think it's AOL. The sound effect, whenever he uses that to basically be a representation of how people's brains is currently operating. I think it's one of the funniest things known to man. So I would play that sound effect for how Pearl Abyss thought the game and community operated

because they thought they was going to put out a game with no disclosure of AI, which is illegal, which is illegal. And we was just going to put up with it. Shepard, just look at the state of gaming. Like, what is going on? So after Pearl Abyss illegally, not putting a disclosure of AI into the game until after we pointed it out, I just want to show you the plethora of. tweets that came out to make them put the disclosure right uh shout out the game role he came out

put out this uh um post about talking about the a i generated artwork in crimson desert as you can see right here you guys see that's the problem um i don't know if y'all can understand what's going on in this picture but um let's just say horses don't look like that in the past or the current you know or in the present you know i know that ain't who i think of what i'm saying is that supposed to be a horse i know that ain't who i think it is i mean at least use AI the right way man it's is atrocious, egregious, I'm just disgusted. Anyways, let's keep going. This is the second example. Exhibit number two. So IGM said two million players have begun their journeys in Cribs and Desert.

Some are starting to stumble into some concerning issues, including the presence of what may be AI generated art assets. Now, I know what you probably say, thinking to yourself. Why are you not saying allegedly anymore? It's because, you know, after reading this, I was like, this is obviously AI because we're going to get into the statement. that Pearl Abyss themselves said. So not disclosing the AI was in your game only until the audience found it out. It's almost as if you thought we were stupid.

It's okay. We're going to keep going. Exhibit number three. So this is furthermore evidence of how AI is in the game. As you can see, the AI slop, you know, you would have thought this was the new Xbox CEO, the way that she doesn't want any more AI slopping the game because she would be completely irate at this right here.

Like, I know the head of Xbox is just looking at this, just fuming. She's just probably saying to itself. I just don't like it, man. You know what I'm saying? I just don't like that shit, man. What's her name, Asher Shwama or whatever? The head of Xbox, she's just looking at this AI slot. And, like, hey, you just never be in Xbox.

And you don't, you know, only time will tell. So the reason why I pull this up, ladies and gentlemen, there's a reason to all this. So, Crimson Desert, Pearl Abyss, I should say, came out with the own statement. That basically said, we would like to. address the questions regarding the use of AI in Crimson Desert. Hmm, interesting, right? During development, let me zoom in so you know I can see this, you know, so y'all know I ain't making this up. Analytic Dreams video on Spotify to see the video along with the audio. During

development, comma, some 2D visual props were created as part of an early stage iteration using experimental AI. Now I know. You guys. Now I know. You guys. So they just said it themselves. Well, let's go back to this. Hold on. One second. Go back to this right, I'll always say. Here we go.

Okay, so they use AI, but they didn't disclose it in the game. Okay, that's okay, right? That's okay. Nothing to go wrong with that, right? Steam requires disclosure of generative AI use. Shepard. Just look at the state of gaming.

Like, what is going on? Did they just break the law? Won't they do? I said, did they just break the law? Shepherd. All right, my fault. I ain't trying to be a snitch. I'm just letting you know what the objective facts are.

So anyways, these assets are getting back into a Crimson Desert statement. These assets helped us rapidly explore a tone and atmosphere in the earlier phases of production. Now, I'm going to have to interject because, of course, the reason why AI is looked at the way it is by the, oh, my fault. I still have myself full screen. But the reason why people look at AI the way that they do

is because of the crazy amount of jobs that's been lost. So we just did a whole segment on it that literally were probably dropped after this Crimson Desert Sales and Review Roundup. But basically, I dove into the gaming industry layoffs, and it's outstanding. It's just crazy the amount of people that have been laid off. And the main reason I keep seeing time and time and time again is because of AI being a more efficient and cost effective

tool. You guys. See, that's the problem. So when people like Crim's the Desert who had, once again, they had, let me look at this. Yeah, they had a budget of, what was it, $130 some million. They basically, oh, here we go, seven years of development, 133 million USD budget. And you're telling me you still use AI slop, not even the good slot. Like, hold up now. Let me bring this back up. I think y'all forget, this horse picture is actually egregious. Like, I'm never really, I dove into it because of course I saved it for my review and sales roundup, but like this picture right here is actually crazy. So let me see if I can find this right quick. Yeah, here we go.

So this right here is going to haunt them for the foreseeable future because who in the world thought who in the actual? I know that ain't who I think it is. I said, I know that ain't who I think it is. This is what y'all using AI for? seven years of development 133 million USD budget and you got AI slop like this

in your game I know that ain't who I think it is just look at the state of gaming like what is going on I just don't like it man I really don't like it I just don't like that shit man like maybe if there was budget constraints

like with Expedition 33 such a small studio to the point where they had 33 developers it still doesn't excuse it, but at least we can see maybe why you have to use certain things in pre-development, right? But not even pre-during or post. Did you take the AI out? It's almost as if you use AI with the intentions of using it with a $133 million budget.

I want you to know how big that number is, right? Usually they say a AAA game takes around $80 to $100 million to make. So $133 million is, you know, it's a little cushion. But that cushion, maybe you could have actually paid humans to make you art. It's just a crazy thought, right? Just a crazy, a quinky thing how more budget could lead to actual humans getting paid instead of AI slop. Anyways, let's get back to the statement. If you don't know why I'm going in on this AI point, the way that I am, is because a lot of people are losing their jobs.

And, you know, this is not a political podcast, but this is why certain people look at AI the way they do, the way that they do, because they, take away so many jobs, millions of jobs, and then they put out AI slop like this, and then they act like, oh, we didn't know it was in the game. Anyways, so Crimson Desert basically continued the statement. They said these assets helped us rapidly explore tone and atmosphere in the earlier phases of production. However, our intention has always been for any such assets to be replaced during the final work and review by our art and development teams. Shepard.

All right, my fault. I was just bringing up the AI slop again. All right, let's get back to what the same. With work that aligned with our quality standards and creative direction, following reports from our community, we have identified that following reports, you telling me, you didn't, you can't tell, you can't tell you, you'd use the AI, anyways, let's keep going.

Following the reports from our community, we have identified that some of these assets were unintentionally included in final release, in the final release. This is not in line with our internal standards, and we take full responsibility for it. Interesting. We also acknowledge that we should have clearly disclosed our use of AI. While these tools were primarily used during early production,

with the expectation that these assets would be replaced prior to release, we recognize that this does not excuse the lack of transparency. Shepard, just look at the state of care. gaming, like what is going on? We sincerely apologize for these oversights. I love when they say that. That's such an AI response. Oh, sorry for the oversight. That's literally an AI response if you. I don't know. If an AI gets something wrong, they'll say sorry for the oversight.

And then they were corrected. They must think they're dealing with a novice, bro. I know exactly what y'all doing. Y'all don't care. They basically said, oh, they caught us. They finally caught us doing something illegal. And we beat these fault. Who did they do? We beat them. We go for them.

That's hilarious. We are currently conducting a comprehensive audit of all in-game assets and are taking steps to replace any effective content. Updated assets will be rolled out in the upcoming patches. And parallel, we are reviewing and strengthening our internal processes to ensure greater transparency and consistency in how we communicate with players moving forward. Now, I would clap it up, but it's just completely egregious. the pathways to get to that response, right?

If the community didn't speak out on them illegally using AI without disclosing it, then guess what? We would have never known, and nobody would have ever said anything because, of course, they was waiting for the community to call them out before they actually did the right thing, which is why I wanted to spend so much time on that, because, of course, once again, if you are a small studio with a limited budget, maybe, just maybe if it was used correctly,

AI usage could be put to the side. Seven years of development, $133 million budget, and you still used AI slot. Shepard, just look at the state of gaming. Like, what is going on? Okay, so with that out the way, I don't want you all to think I'm just ragging on this game. I just wanted to start off with that because they thought we were stupid, and I just wanted to let them know in every sense of the word, we are not. So anyways, getting back into what Crimson Desert has been doing in a positive manner.

I have to say a patch did just roll out, so if you don't know, They added a storage chest to the camp, added more fast travel points, reduce health damage of certain bosses, increasing healing from food. Trees can now be cut down with standard attacks and take less damage. I'm not going to go through all that. Basically, if you want to, if you're a huge Crimson Desert fan, here are the Patch notes right here. I'm going to leave this on the screen while I get to my next point. Because of course, definitely a W for them listening to the community and giving out an update very quickly.

I will say that's a W. So anyways, if you don't know what Crimson's. The Crimson Desert is about basically it, of course, is one of the biggest games of the year. That's why I had to start. You know, I didn't have to, but I want to be respectful to mammoth impacts of video games in the industry. Because at the end of the day, we do cover the gaming and music IPs that notoriously affect the masses. And Crimson Desert, objectively speaking, will be one of the biggest launches of 2026. So anyways, if you want to know what this game is about, safe to say you're doing a lot.

you're doing everything it's basically nothing specifically that you're doing in this game is it's a a huge complex system right an open world action RPG they don't want to be called the RPG guess what it's the most are hardcore if that's even a word of RPGs out there um when it comes to the setting it's a fully explorable large scale map basically if you want to be respected, you know, if you want to have your time respected, as far as the amount of time you put into a game, don't play Crimson Desert. So that being said, if you love to disrespect your time as a gamer and dive into a world with no real story, but it's a lot of interesting sightseeing to have to be, to basically occurring your gameplay, I think when you're looking at the combat

heavy sandbox elements, it is GTA-esque, but you know, when it comes to the story, it's not GTA at all. Now, GTA is set to come out November 19, 2026. I think we just got a small slice of what would happen if GTA 6 came out and had a terrible story or just a bare-bones story like Crimson Desert to the point where developers of Crimson Desert came out because you know I have all types of receipts. The developers of Crimson Desert, they came out and they was like, hold up now. Why they keep killing the story?

Let's let them know that basically the higher-ups didn't want a story. to throw it together last minute. That's literally what they say. I kid you not. So this is basically it started off as like an MMO, right? And essentially, last minute, I think they made it like a single player adventure. So that's why there's so many things to do in the world, but so it's just single player oriented. So when it comes to the single player elements, you do have fishing, cooking, hunting. The design philosophy was basically a do everything style similar to GTA, right? So Crimson Desert and GTA dropping in the same year. To me, that should be illegal.

Like, how many hours can you put in one particular game? Like, literally, if you played Crimson Desert and you was a non-defined worker who respect you the time, I don't know if you could beat Crimson Desert and GT6 in the same year. I think that's specifically why Pearl Abyss was like, let's get this game out way before GT6, even give them a chance on beating in the game. Because you're going to have to put at least 100 hours into that. action to the game because when you look at it in totality this is one of the biggest games if not the biggest game that's going to be released in 2026 which is why i keep bringing up gtas is that level

of content in this specific game and granted you're going to have different things to do but is it going to be exciting to you only you would be able to answer that question so now i do want to get into um pearl abyss coming out and talking about the sales basically saying they are quote incredibly humbled by the success, actively monitoring community feedback, which is why we got the AI response. And of course, they promised rapid updates and improvements, which I already talked about as far as the updates and things that nature. They definitely kept their promise when it comes to that. The focus areas for patches is controlling optimization, performance fixes, and gameplay

streamline. Now, I said this was going to be more of a positive part of the Crimson Desert Review. I would not be keeping it eight more than 92 if I did not break. bring up the button layout. Now, I have to do it because, of course, GTA got away with this. And what I mean by this is like, when you play GTA and you have to tap the A button to run, nobody thought that was intuitive. They was like, Rockstar, what are you doing?

You guys. See, that's the problem. So that is the only way of thinking in my brain that made it make sense to Pearl Abyss to make the control so complex for this specific game. Because it's similar. the jump and interact button the slash pickup items button is the same right so the jump and interact and the pickup items is the same button causing accidental jumps or failed interactions right talking the NPCs require holding one button described as overly annoying and complex you

know compare to other games where you basically uh no no no basically my fault talking NPCs requires holding one button and then pressing another described as overly complex and annoying. Looting slow animation. Okay, that's not that bad. Um, sluggish slash unresponsive movement, hold durations is too long. Combo inputs for actions like fishing or grappling feels convoluted. Now, the biggest thing that stuck out to me is the jump and the talking NPCs buttons because you're doing that throughout the whole game. All the other ones, I don't think it's that bad. So I just to showcase how some of the running mechanics in gta is similar to the jump talking to mpc's mechanics in crimson desert it's just overly complex and they're literally making it different for no reason like

they don't want to streamline it just so you choose their game and no other game that's ultimately why i believe they even go with these complex mechanics they're like hold up now if we change a fundamental if we change something that's fundamentally ingrained into gamer's brain and then they enjoy it. That means they'll play our game more than other games. It's like the Rockstar way of thinking until you realize. You are nowhere near Rockstar. So I think Crimson Desert is going to find that out the hard way,

and they've already found that out the hard way as far as people coming out. And people very, so many people complaining about the inputs being overly complex for no reason, right? So with that been saying, that's what you can look to enjoy in this Crimson Desert. If you want it in the actual description of the story, guess what? There is none. There's no story. You know, if you wanted a story, it's too bad. What that's too, too darn bad. Shepard. All right, I'll fall. Let me get back to it. So, getting back into the review roundup of Crimson Desert, because you know, we already got into the actual sales and how it's doing phenomenal.

Once again, to reiterate, second most play game on PlayStation, nowhere to be found on Xbox, because I just, I just believe people are just, if you're going to play, the single gaming experience is it has to be on PlayStation Pro. I think that's just the best console until Xbox comes out with their next console, which is reportedly a PC console hybrid, which means it's probably going to be the most powerful console, and it's going to cost a lot. But that's a whole other discussion.

It's currently the sixth most play game on Steam. Once again, a 24-hour peak of 248,000, but a 14-hour peak of 248,000 as well. So basically a lot of people have been playing this game and they're constantly hitting their peak because people are not only trying to play the game but trying to beat the game. So shout out to them for putting them on my notorious mass affecting numbers

especially out the gate. So with that being said, obviously like I said, it's not on Nintendo, but I do want to get to the review roundups of this specific game. As when you look at the Crimson Desert reviews, safe to say everybody is all across the board when it comes to their specific grading as Eurogamer gave Crimson Desert, which is the lowest score I've seen as far as the

respected gaming conglomerates. They gave it a six out of ten saying Crimson Desert is an extremely ambitious open world adventure and that ambition is what makes it both incredibly cool and gobsmackingly. What in the world? You know, journalist. I respected, but what no, gobsmackingly? Really? Anyways. Gobbs smackingly infuriating in almost equal measure. The expert is the expert exploration and combat fall falls far short of the best open world adventure game the dialogue characters and story are laughing laughingly bad that is that is crazy you guys see that's the problem all right so um let me see let me see oh actually that was from i gn that was from i gn's main that was uh six out of ten that quote and that score was from igm's main your gamer just gave it to six at ten and

and described the feeling as prestige candor crush. I don't know what that means. Anyways, let's get to some more positive reviews, because this is all over the place. You know, nobody's just coming out and saying this, I guess, IGN did. Anyways, let's get to some more positive reviews. Forbes gave this a 9.5 out of 10,

saying if the question was if Crimson Desert could really be that big and really play that well and really keep you entertained the whole time, the answer for me is unequivocally, yes. shout to that person all right then we have games radar plus

giving it an 8 out of 10 praising it for excellent uh praise it praising it um by highlighting the overwhelming but memorable experience

so everybody's saying this game is overwhelming gaming bible gave it an 8 of 10 saying quote Crimson Desert may not be the best game you'll ever play but it'll certainly be up there as perhaps the most memorable is jarring

overwhelmingly must play experience. Let's do one more. And the GameSpot gave this a 7 out of 10 saying, quote, much of the open world, combat, and transversal is solid. But the game falls short in narrative execution and consistency.

Man, that's crazy. Shepherd, just look at the state of gaming. Like, what is going on? So, of course, after giving a very extensive coverage of Crimson Desert, I did want to let y'all know that when it comes to respecting your time as a gamer, not all people look at that the same way. Some people love diving into a world

and putting 100 to 2 to 300 hours into a game. Maybe they want to come off work and instead of booting up Call of Duty, they boot up Crimson Desert and now they can put up hours and hours on a game that they know they can come back to after they get off work. Some people look at gaming like that. You know, for me,

definitely for me specifically. I prefer, even though I don't like horror games, I prefer Resident Evil, Pragmata, Split Fiction, those type of games. A very solid story that's concise and straight to the point. Because for me, I think the best stories have a point and have a starting point and an ending point. Whenever you don't have that ending point and you just have a starting point, you end up just going everywhere. You know that, that famous phrase where if you run that ideas, you can always go to space. ironic because my favorite franchise is massive thing right but what i'm basically saying is keeping a story concise i think makes it better than a lot of other elongated stories that's basically what i'm saying

so i prefer games that have a great story and they know structurally how that story's going to go and it's not just stuff all over the map for you to complete such as a assassin creed shadows like literally i think i put like 70 80 hours into the saturday and create shadows i've realized i don't want to beat this game you know i was thinking to myself like do i really want to beat this game is a story that compelling of course not so you know i've put him a bunch of hours into a game and just realize it's not for me and that feeling is the worst in the world because you're like you put all this time into a specific game only to realize the story's not even then captivating so anyways um when it comes to crimson desert some people are the opposite some people just love

putting hours and hours into a specific game that of course gives them a spectacle to enjoy back the end of the day, uh, just never ends. It just never ends. Like I literally looked up how long does it take to be this game and they basically said good luck. Now I'm joking. But um, I didn't get a real, um, estimate like at least 100 hours plus at least. So with that being said, I do want to end off on a high note. Crimson Desert did launch with two million copies worldwide, $140 million based off of unit sales. And of course, as of right now, it is available on PC, PS5. Xbox Series X and S.

And of course, no Nintendo. Shepard. All right, my fault, I had to sneak that into it. So with that been said, click my link to share in my bio. Let me know one of my social media. What do you think about Crimson Desert being one of the biggest games to come out in the year of 2026? And if you've played it, do you believe it's a game of a year or a contender? And why do you believe it could be?