The Korean developer and publisher Pearl Abyss has introduced new benefits for employees. One curious addition is a cleaning service that is meant to keep the homes of singles organized.
What kind of company is this? Pearl Abyss is the developer of Black Desert and the upcoming MMORPG Crimson Desert. The company made headlines in 2018 when it acquired the MMO EVE Online and now publishes it.
Additionally, the developer is currently building a massive new headquarters, even though the company was only founded in 2010 and focuses solely on MMOs.
However, not only is a lot of money being invested in the company’s headquarters and new games, but also in the employees.
What new benefits are there? As the website MMOCulture reports, the Korean company Pearl Abyss has expanded its employee benefits. They were already quite generous before, and the new additions sound very interesting:
- Singles are now entitled to a household helper who comes once a month to tidy up the apartment, do the dishes, make the beds, and take out the trash.
- Singles and couples with cats and/or dogs receive financial support for medications and outpatient or inpatient treatments for up to 3 pets.
- There are more bonuses for birthdays, now also including the anniversaries of spouses, children, and siblings’ children (nieces and nephews). The company provides gift baskets worth $85. Moreover, employees can take half a day off paid on their birthday and a full day off on their wedding anniversary if they wish.
Particularly the point regarding the household helper sounds like an interesting step amidst the Corona times and home office to alleviate some of the burden on employees. After all, many studios have completely transitioned to remote work.
Support also for children and children’s wishes
What do the benefits for employees look like otherwise? Also apart from the new regulations, Pearl Abyss provides a lot of financial support for employees (via MMOCulture), including:
- Women who wish to undergo artificial insemination receive support of up to $900.
- If an employee’s parents or in-laws become dependent on care, there is an additional $360 per month.
- Long-term employees receive bonuses for anniversaries in the form of additional money (up to $10,000) or 30 days of vacation.
- For each minor child, there is $447 per month for childcare, as well as a one-time payment of $6,200 for incurred tuition fees.
Pearl Abyss is doing well
How is Pearl Abyss doing? For the Korean developer, the first quarter of 2020 went well. The company generated 132.9 billion Won (112.2 million USD), a large part of which comes from Black Desert. However, the company currently only publishes 3 games.
It is noteworthy that the company makes many revenues in the West, around 42%. This is quite a lot, especially compared to other MMO companies from Korea. NCSoft, for example, generated 730 billion Won (615 million USD) in the same quarter, but only 2.6% of that came from the West.
Of the total revenues at Pearl Abyss, 35% comes from PC and 11% from consoles. The remainder was generated through Black Desert Mobile.
It is therefore not surprising that Pearl Abyss is also focusing on new titles aimed at western players. The MMORPG Crimson Desert is set to be released for consoles as well as PC and will focus on PvE and story. The release is already planned for Q4 2021, with a beta expected to start in 2020.
Plan 8, on the other hand, will be a loot shooter being developed in collaboration with one of the Counter-Strike creators. In it, you will fight aliens with the help of exosuits. Loot shooters, however, are relatively rare in Korea, as is the focus on consoles. Here, it is not exclusively, but also developed for the West.
