In its latest earnings report, developer Pearl Abyss has revealed that it is now targeting the second half of 2028 for the launch of its long-in-development open-world title DokeV. The company has said that development on the project has been progressing smoothly, and that the team’s previous work has ensured that the accumulated experience and assets have been helping.
As for how far along in development it is, Pearl Abyss has noted that the foundational system work has been completed, and that the team is currently “expanding content creation and validating the core gameplay loop”. With the 2028 launch window, the company wants to use a phase-based strategy for marketing, with full-scale marketing, like hands-on playable demos, coming in the second half of 2027. However, the studio has also noted that we shouldn’t expect new trailers for the game until development progresses to an appropriate point.
“Regarding trailer reveals, we are evaluating options within our broader marketing strategy. Rather than simply advancing the reveal timeline, we believe it is essential to sustain user engagement and momentum all the way to launch. Learning from past experience that releasing content too early can lead to hype fatigue, we plan to showcase the game at a timing that fully demonstrates its quality and vision.”
The point about kicking off marketing too early might be referring to the fact that DokeV was unveiled all the way back in 2019. Details about the game were sparse, however, and since then, Pearl Abyss has instead focused on the development of its open-world action-adventure game, Crimson Desert. Following that title’s shipping earlier this year, studio CEO Heo Jin-young confirmed that its core development team had shifted its focus to work on DokeV. Without committing to an official launch window at the time, he said that the game will need “about two to three years from the current timeline to completion and polishing.”
Back in May, Pearl Abyss had spoken about its ambitions to release a new game every two to three years. The studio also noted that, while work on DokeV had been progressing, there were plans to continue supporting Crimson Desert with post-launch updates.
“Crimson Desert will continue to focus on enhancing user satisfaction and driving new sales through continuous updates, while expanding its market presence through platform expansion,” said the studio in its presentation. “In addition, we are currently exploring various ways to broaden the game to the next level, including [downloadable content]. We will share the details once the concrete plans are set.”
“Furthermore, DokeV and PLAN 8, two new titles, are in development. With the goal of maintaining a new title release cycle of every two to three years, we will prioritize resources on DokeV to accelerate development. In addition, DokeV is currently in the pre-production stage, and we will share updates as development progresses.”
Crimson Desert was released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S earlier this year, and while it had a rocky launch, the studio’s continued post-launch support has kept players coming back. Work has also begun on a Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game, with Pearl Abyss targeting a 2027 launch window.
