Black Desert launched on PC five years ago and has since made its way to Xbox One, PS4, and even iOS and Android. But despite all the new platforms, PC remains the most compelling to the team at Pearl Abyss.
During a recent interview with Jeonghee Jin – Pearl Abyss America CEO – we discussed the sprawl of BDO and whether one version is viewed as more valuable than the others.
"This is like asking a parent to pick their favorite child!" they joked, noting all versions bring something special to the table. However, Jin eventually revealed that PC remains special to the development team.
"Developing an MMORPG for [mobile and console] is not an easy task, and we had to go through some trial and error, but we’re proud of the console and mobile versions of the game and glad we can serve more game players on their game platform of choice."
"That said, PC is probably where our heart is as it’s the initial platform where Black Desert was born, and probably the most suitable game device for triple-A MMORPGs."
In terms of cashflow, Jin said all platforms contribute "almost equally to the revenue stream," but the demographics for each are dramatically different.
"For example, we see more popularity and larger revenue on PC and console than from mobile in the Western regions while we see the opposite trend in Asian markets - yet another reason all the platforms are valuable to us."
Black Desert on PC seems to be garnering more attention than its console and mobile siblings at the moment, as Pearl Abyss recently took over publishing control from Kakao Games – leading to a massive influx of players and several in-game events.
"Since the transfer, we’ve seen a significant increase of over 200% in our daily players and a huge increase in our new users as well. The title has also been ranked as one of the “Top Sellers” and “What's Popular” in the MMORPG genre on Steam. It’s a great time to play Black Desert Online, and we couldn’t be prouder."