Kakao Games and Pearl Abyss are going their separate ways in Korea. The MMORPG Black Desert will be directly published by Pearl Abyss in the future. But what does this mean for us in Europe?
What has been announced? Pearl Abyss, the developer of the MMORPG Black Desert and the publisher Kakao Games have agreed that Pearl Abyss will take over the publishing of the MMORPG in South Korea in the future.
An unexpected change in distribution
What does this mean for the MMORPG? Starting from May 30, Pearl Abyss will fully take care of Black Desert by itself. This includes development, as well as distribution and customer support, just like it is the case in Russia, Taiwan, and Turkey.
Why are the companies separating? No reasons have been given. However, it is said that they have mutually agreed upon it.
Will the players’ data be transferred? All data will be transferred to Pearl Abyss so that players can continue playing with their usual accounts. Character transfers will take place throughout this month.
What about Europe?
What impact does this have for us in Europe? In Europe, Black Desert is also published by Kakao Games. It is currently unknown whether Pearl Abyss wants to take over the distribution of the MMORPG in Europe (and the USA) as well. It could be conceivable.
There is speculation on Reddit that Pearl Abyss might let the contract with Kakao Games expire and then take over the distribution of the game here as well.
The pros and cons of a change
What could this potential change mean for us? As a developer, Pearl Abyss could directly respond to player feedback. There would be no other company in between. The communication would then take place directly between players and developers. Updates could also be released faster.
In principle, the successful Black Desert could benefit from this. However, there is already discussion on Reddit that this has not gone well at all in Russia and Taiwan. Allegedly, customer inquiries and feedback are ignored.
Bolththrower writes on Reddit: “Pear Abyss is currently ignoring major problems in Southeast Asia and Russia.”
Furthermore, some players fear that something like what happened in Russia could repeat itself, when in October all character data of Black Desert was deleted.
However, there are also players who would welcome a change. Because allegedly, not everything is going smoothly under Kakao Games either.
deadly_poison7 mentions on Reddit: “I hope Kakao loses the distribution rights in Europe and the USA because they are simply incompetent. In three years they have ruined the game because they simply work unprofessionally.”
Whether there will actually be a change in the distribution of Black Desert from Kakao Games to Pearl Abyss here is still uncertain.
