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Pearl Abyss was officially invited to CEDEC 2026 (Computer Entertainment Developers Conference 2026), Japan's largest game developer conference, where it shared its development expertise for 'Crimson Desert' on the 23rd. CEDEC 2026 was held in Yokohama for three days starting on the 22nd. It is considered the most prestigious technical conference by Japanese game developers, featuring over 200 sessions annually and hosting speakers from major Japanese game companies such as Nintendo and Sony.
Pearl Abyss was the only Korean game company to take the stage at this developer-focused event. Unlike consumer-facing game shows that showcase flashy new titles, this stage was different. The language spoken here was that of programming, pipelines, and production, and the audience consisted of people who make games, not just those who play them.
Developers Doo Seung-bin and Kim Hyun-kyum presented on the topic of 'Crimson Desert: Building a Large-Scale Open World Development Process,' sharing their internal development methods with Japanese developers. They explained the challenges encountered while building a vast open world and the development processes established to overcome them. The core of their presentation focused on production pipelines for efficiently creating massive amounts of content, iterative development to enhance quality, and collaboration systems that keep hundreds of personnel moving in the same direction. It was a lecture strictly for developers, sharing the work methods behind the screen rather than just flashy trailers.
The presentation focused on 'production' and development processes—the ability to reliably create a vast open world—rather than individual technologies like graphics or rendering. Notably, the development team consists of only about 200 people, which is relatively small compared to global open-world projects of similar scale. The two developers explained that instead of adding more personnel or working longer hours, they focused on designing a 'scalable' production method. Their principles were rapid iteration, maintainability, and parallel workflows. They viewed 'Crimson Desert' not just as a single game, but as an effort to build internal tools and processes that will support future large-scale projects.
The key was a 'World First' pipeline. Instead of manually filling in a vast map, they used a method of layering: an environmental layer for terrain, vegetation, and wildlife; a content layer for items, NPCs, fortresses, and bandit camps; and a meta-game layer for strategic structures like trading posts and faction strongholds. Each layer can be developed and placed separately, and when multiple layers overlap in one area, it creates reasons for players to explore, fight, and collect. They ensured density across the world through automatic placement using the procedural generation tool 'Houdini,' while adding manual placement for scenes that needed to be memorable. This structure allows automatic placement to handle scale and efficiency, while manual work provides intent and liveliness.
They also introduced how they made the world react to players. Grass and thin trees sway when passed through, and players can cut reeds with a weapon or bend a tree to use its recoil to jump. Devices like chests, traps, and cranes with interlocking parts were defined as 'gimmicks.' The 'phase change' feature, where the same location changes state based on progress, also drew attention. For example, if a fortress occupied by enemies is liberated, it turns into an allied outpost. Data that does not change, like terrain, is kept in the 'base level,' while data that changes, such as buildings, NPCs, and enemy placement, is separated into a 'gameplay level' and swapped out. This technique allows the same space to be shown in multiple states without duplicating the entire map.
For a long time, the image of Korean games was strongly tied to being a MMORPG powerhouse, with a relatively small presence in the console market. 'Crimson Desert,' released on March 20 of this year, shattered that perception. It sold 2 million copies in its first day and reached 6 million cumulative copies in 83 days—numbers unprecedented in the history of Korean console games. According to data from the U.S. market research firm Circana, it ranked second in annual cumulative video game sales in the U.S. this year. The achievement is even more significant as it was built on a new IP rather than the legacy of an existing franchise.
The response in Japan was particularly strong. Pearl Abyss had been investing in this market even before the launch. At last year's Tokyo Game Show (TGS) 2025, they set up about 100 demo stations—the largest for a single game—and lines continued even after the 120-minute maximum wait time set by the operations office.
Japanese game media outlet 4Gamer wrote, "I could feel the depth of the world," while Famitsu noted, "I felt the heavy impact and catharsis of the combat." Pearl Abyss partnered with Sony to reveal the release date of 'Crimson Desert' during 'State of Play,' and their appearances on 'Play! Play! Play!' broadcasts garnered nearly 1 million views combined. The flow that led to being the #1 pre-order title on the PlayStation Store and being selected as the 'most anticipated PS5 game' culminated in this day's presentation.
Signs of this change were also visible at the booths the day before the lecture. On the 22nd, the first day of the event, two monitors were placed side-by-side at the Samsung Japan Research Institute demo station, both displaying the same 'Crimson Desert' footage. 'Crimson Desert' was used to demonstrate 'HDR10+ Gaming,' which Samsung is promoting. Researcher Ota explained, "When a monitor passes its specifications, such as peak brightness information, to the game engine, the content is displayed exactly as the creator intended." The key is latency.
He emphasized, "With a TV, the display handles this kind of image processing, but in games, that causes latency. HDR10+ Gaming shifts that processing to the engine, so the monitor displays the incoming image as-is. That's why the latency is low." He added that as the peak brightness of gaming monitors has risen from 300 nits to 2000 nits, the value of this technology, which aligns content with the screen, is growing.
When asked why 'Crimson Desert' was the star of the show, Researcher Ota replied, "It implements the highest level of graphics currently available, so it best demonstrates the difference in technology. It also has high brand awareness in Japan." Samsung received permission from Pearl Abyss to use the game for the demo. A world-class display company chose a Korean game as the benchmark content to prove its latest technology.
The graphics that led Samsung to use it as benchmark content, and the confidence shown by the two directors on stage, are rooted in the proprietary 'BlackSpace Engine.' Pearl Abyss did not borrow an external commercial engine but instead implemented real-time lighting, weather changes, physics effects, seamless open world, and large-scale battles using its own engine.
The company explains that the meticulous refinement of distant mountain terrain, grass movement, atmospheric air quality, and audio is not just about graphic quality itself, but a product of a development philosophy aimed at making players feel the world is real. This is bolstered by the live service know-how accumulated over more than 10 years of global service for 'Black Desert.'
As the scale and personnel for AAA games have grown, systematic project management and a culture of collaboration have become core competitive advantages that determine quality, just as much as technology. That was ultimately what Pearl Abyss shared on the CEDEC stage. They didn't just present a successful game; they presented the method that completed it.
The two developers admitted that while this pipeline provided significant advantages in productivity and scalability, 'how to further enhance the presence of the story' remains a challenge to be solved. By sharing the trial and error and lessons learned during the development process rather than presenting a finished answer, they actually garnered more interest from the developers in attendance.
Meanwhile, Pearl Abyss will also appear as a guest speaker at 'Gamescom Dev,' the developer conference for Gamescom, the world's largest game exhibition held in Germany this August. A Korean game that took the stage in Japan, the home of consoles, will continue to share its development know-how with European developers.
