The biggest single-player game to be released this year, or at least ever (considering Grand Theft Auto 6), is Crimson Desert. Crimson Desert, the latest title from Black Desert developer Pearl Abyss, is a massive open-world game set in the same world as its predecessor.
On its first day, the game had nearly 240,000 concurrent players. Both on Metacritic and across gaming media, the barrage of players attempting to take on the continent of Pywel has been met with mixed reviews.
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At least, that’s what I thought was going to happen.
Pearl Abyss apologizes
Early Sunday morning, March 22nd, Pearl Abyss apologized to gamers to X for the abuse of AI in generated assets. First, Pearl Abyss takes responsibility for this issue, stating that these assets were intended for the development phase only.
“I would like to answer questions regarding the use of AI in Crimson Desert.
During development, several 2D visual props were created as part of early iterations using experimental AI generation tools. These assets helped us quickly explore tone and mood during the early stages of production. However, our intention is to replace such assets with work consistent with our quality standards and creative direction after final work and review by our art and development teams.
Following reports from the community, we have confirmed that some of these assets were unintentionally included in the final release. This does not comply with our internal standards and we take full responsibility for this. ”
We would like to answer any questions you may have regarding the use of AI in Crimson Desert. During development, several 2D visual props were created as part of early iterations using experimental AI generation tools. These assets helped us quickly explore the initial tone and mood.March 22, 2026
They later acknowledged that they should have disclosed their use of AI beforehand and promised to replace the affected assets.
“We also recognize that we should have clearly disclosed the use of AI. While these tools were primarily used during early production and it was anticipated that these assets would be replaced prior to release, we recognize that this does not excuse a lack of transparency.”
We sincerely apologize for these oversights.
We are currently conducting a comprehensive audit of all in-game assets and are taking steps to replace affected content. Updated assets will be rolled out in a future patch. In parallel, we are reviewing and strengthening our internal processes to increase transparency and consistency in how we communicate with players going forward. ”
Are you really sorry, or did your hand get stuck in the cookie jar?
I’ve had the opportunity to observe a lot of discussion on social media surrounding this apology, and as with reviews, I’ve received mixed reactions.
On the one hand, there are apologists who go beyond ridiculous, saying that the use of AI was not an issue at all. I think a deep dive into why completely replacing art through the use of AI is a terrible idea is best reserved for the hundreds of articles that have already been written.
The other thing is when people are accusing you of just apologizing because you got caught. Perhaps there is a middle ground to all of this?
Later that summer, Sandfall admitted that he had used Gen-AI in the early stages of development, but was quickly dismissed. François Mourisevent, producer of “Clair Obscur,” EL PAÍS said:
So when it comes to Crimson Desert, why can’t we accept the idea that the developers used Gen-AI in a similar way? Is this a case of people picking favorites, or is there more to the story?
All I can say is that neither the story nor the quests contribute to the discussion. Many people ask if these quests were also generated by AI, which I can understand to some extent, but at the same time I don’t agree with it.
I’ve played a few Korean-style MMOs, and Crimson Desert isn’t an MMO, but you can’t take the MMO DNA out of an MMO developer. These early quests, for better or worse, feel like they’re geared more toward introducing gameplay systems than anything else. I don’t care about the story, but games like Lost Ark, Throne, and Liberty had equally hilarious “bad” stories.
Another embarrassment for the developers came in the form of a Spanish version. As Copacolondrios from X shared, “The Spanish translation of the game is completely broken. Some quests, skills, and challenge text have been completely changed and can no longer be completed in Spanish. These are not minor translation errors, they are game-breaking. Please fix them.”
🔴The Spanish translation of the game is completely broken 🔴Some quests, skills, and challenge texts have been completely changed, making them impossible to complete in Spanish. These are not minor translation errors, they are game breaking, please fix them! @WillJPowers @CrimsonDesert_ pic.twitter.com/8h1UedVyvQMarch 22, 2026
As you can see from the image above and a quick Google Translate, “walking 10 meters on a rope” is not the same as “walking 10 meters with a hook arrow.” Did Pearl Abyss use AI for the Spanish translation of Crimson Desert?
What do you think about the use of AI in Crimson Desert? Let us know in the comments below. Listen intently to the opinions of others.
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