This year, the developer Pearl Abyss took over the distribution of Black Desert here in the West themselves. However, since then, complaints have been piling up, especially about support. We looked into the situation and asked the developers what is going on.
What happened? Pearl Abyss has been distributing the MMORPG Black Desert itself since February 25. Even before that, there were skeptical voices fearing that support might worsen after the transition.
Just over a month has passed since the takeover, and in the meantime, complaints have also significantly increased. There have been more than 15 reddit threads complaining about support. The accusations vary greatly:
- Some have been waiting 14, 20, or even more than 30 days for a response from support (via reddit).
- Others complain about a lack of diligence. In one ticket, a situation was explained that the employee apparently did not read carefully. A player received no loot from a boss because he was caught in a bug. However, the support employee explained to the user how to qualify for loot (via reddit).
- In some cases, support is simply stricter than it was under the old publisher Kakao Games. A boy’s account was suspended, who was not yet 16 years old, which was not a problem under Kakao Games (via reddit).
Some of these cases have now been resolved, but mainly because people took their tickets and concerns to reddit and thus to the public.
After MeinMMO reader Waifu Janna drew attention to the situation, we reached out to Pearl Abyss as a editorial team. They confirmed to us that the issue with support is known and that work is being done on it.
Highest player numbers since launch are said to be the reason for the problem
What does Pearl Abyss say? In a statement, the Korean developer told us that while they had prepared for a high number of support tasks, in the end they were overwhelmed by the highest player numbers since release:
We extensively prepared for the service transfer and anticipated a significantly increased volume of requests. Despite these preparations, the passionate reaction from the community to the transfer far exceeded our expectations.
We may celebrate the highest number of players since our official launch five years ago. Since then, not only has a large number of players returned to BDO, but we have also welcomed many new adventurers.
At the same time, they promised us that they would expand their service team and apologized for the issues:
We are currently expanding our service team and are working hard to meet the needs of our adventurers and provide them with the customer support they deserve. We hope to resolve this issue very, very quickly. We would like to thank our community for their continued support and understanding and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.
However, it was not revealed when exactly the situation will improve.
The publisher change came with some issues. Players also had to put in effort, as accounts needed to be transferred from one provider to another.
If you haven’t done this yet, you should hurry. Accounts that are not transferred by May 31 will be permanently deleted.
Why are there so many new players and returnees? In recent months, there have been several promotions that were interesting for new players and returnees:
- For instance, the MMORPG was briefly available for free on the official website and through Steam
- Currently, there is a promotion where you can get the game for free through Amazon Prime Gaming (via Amazon)
- The seasons introduced in 2020 are ideal for starting with the game. You level up faster, get better gear, and there’s no PvP
- The new class Sage (Seher) was introduced in March
Have you also recently started with Black Desert? Or have you had problems with support? Let us know in the comments.
Those who want to start with Black Desert should best wait for the next season. Because they are perfect for that, says the player who was the first to reach level 66 in Europe: “Starting in Black Desert has never been better,” says a hardcore player.
