Crimson Desert developer and publisher Pearl Abyss won’t show gameplay footage of the Xbox Series X and S version ahead of its March 19 release date.
The hotly anticipated open-world action game is just 24 hours from release (check out the Crimson Desert global release times here to find out when you can play in your timezone), but Pearl Abyss has yet to show it running on either Xbox console, leading some owners of Microsoft’s hardware concerned that the game may run poorly.
Pearl Abyss has itself shown the game running on PC. PlayStation 5 Pro was shown off via the tech experts at Digital Foundry, and only this week base PS5 footage was shown on PlayStation Japan’s YouTube channel. But the Xbox versions, which support Microsoft’s Xbox Play Anywhere feature, are conspicuous by their absence. Similarly, we haven’t seen Crimson Desert running on the ROG Xbox Ally or ROG Xbox Ally X handhelds, despite both having official specifications from Pearl Abyss.
Pearl Abyss pointed IGN to its confirmed Crimson Desert specs sheet when we asked about the Xbox gameplay no-show, and said it had sent Xbox codes to reviewers where requested. Those specs confirm performance, balanced, and quality mode details for all consoles, except the Xbox Series S, which lacks a balanced option.
Xbox Series S in performance mode runs at 720p resolution, with a target performance of 40 frames per second, and raytracing off. In quality mode, the Xbox Series S version runs at 1080p resolution, with a target resolution of 30fps and raytracing off.
As for the Xbox Series X version, expect improved performance across all modes, including up to 60fps in performance mode.
In a launch FAQ, Pearl Abyss said Crimson Desert needs an internet connection to complete the initial setup (day one patch) “and ensure they have the latest version of the game.” Once installation is complete, you can play Crimson Desert offline.
As for advanced graphics tech support, Crimson Desert supports FSR 3/4 and DLSS 4/4.5 on PC, upgraded PSSR for PS5 Pro, and FSR 3 for the PS5 base model and Xbox Series X and S. It also features support for AMD FSR Ray Regeneration and Nvidia DLSS Ray Reconstruction on PC versions. Frame generation (FSR, DLSS and MetalFX) is only supported on PC/Mac, as you’d expect, and Crimson Desert supports MetalFX Upscaler, Frame Generation, and Denoiser on Mac.
It’s worth noting that many publishers and developers do not show footage of a particular version ahead of a game’s launch for a variety of reasons, but Crimson Desert’s enormous pre-release hype has brought with it an intense scrutiny, with Pearl Abyss accused by some of hiding the PlayStation and Xbox versions prior to launch — something that sparked fears of a Cyberpunk 2077-style debacle, where CD Projekt’s game’s lesser-powered and buggy console versions were not shown at all before release.
Earlier this month, Pearl Abyss marketing chief Will Powers called on fans to “let us cook” and show the console versions when they were ready. “We’re not hiding anything, and I’m sick of having to repeat myself,” Powers said. “I’ve repeated 100s of times that we’ll reveal things ahead of launch to give people adequate time to still preorder the game for themselves. We’re saying this openly… Let us cook? Please and thank you. /rant”
While you wait to play, check out IGN’s final Crimson Desert hands-on preview, and our launch interview with Will Powers.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
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