- Pearl Abyss has confirmed that Crimson desert will not contain microtransactions
- The RPG won’t have a cosmetic cash shop because it “is a premium experience”
- Will Powers, director of marketing at Pearl Abyss America, says it won’t offer the “monetization model” of free-to-play games
Crimson desert Developer Pearl Abyss has confirmed that the upcoming open-world role-playing game (RPG) will not feature microtransactions or a cosmetic cash shop.
The $69.99 game has been in development for a while and is finally set to launch next month. From the trailers and gameplay reels we’ve seen, it looks like a pretty ambitious game, but the South Korean studio has promised that it won’t offer any pay-to-win additions or microtransactions in the game.
“I can say it definitively: there is no cosmetic cash store,” confirmed Will Powers, director of marketing at Pearl Abyss America, in an interview with Dropped frames.
“This is made to be a premium experience that you buy and you enjoy the world, and not something for microtransactions.
“It’s a monetization model. If you’re doing free-to-play, you have to monetize it in a different way. This is a premium experience. It’s the transaction. Period.”
Crimson Desert will not have a microtransaction store, Pearl Abyss confirms.15 February 2026
This suggests that the game won’t even offer optional paid add-ons for character costumes, mounts, or in-game currency that can be used to purchase resources.
Pearl Abyss is best known for its popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Black Desert onlinea game that’s full of microtransactions, so that’s good to hear Crimson desert won’t fall into the same trap that some action-adventure games have in recent years.
Play as Dragon’s Dogma 2another fantasy RPG with online features and a single-player narrative campaign, also offered microtransactions and received backlash from players. There is also Ubisoft, which is known to include them in its Assassin’s Creed game.
Crimson desert launches on March 19 for PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S and PC. Set in Pywel’s fantasy world, it follows a lone mercenary, Kliff, who must “restore what was lost”. It gives players choices that will affect the story, challenging enemy encounters, cities to explore, a variety of weapons, secrets to discover and more.
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