Crimson Desert has got off to a shaky start. After launching to huge hype, Pearl Abyss’ latest has received mixed reviews from critics and users alike, and has had its fair share of controversy, including its “unintended” use of AI art and problems with janky controls. However, perhaps the most surprising issue of all was that it launched with a complete lack of support for Intel Arc GPUs. Now, the company has promised that it’s working on that support, but I can’t help but wonder if it has missed the boat on convincing latecomers to buy the game.
For full context, Crimson Desert has, by most measures, been a smash hit, with it being the top-selling game on Steam right now and having 192,351 players active as I type, peaking at 248,530 concurrents today. Most game developers would be over the moon at that sort of success. However, there’s a distinct sense that many of us will have long since moved on by next week, and that anyone who missed out on playing the RPG at launch because it wouldn’t run on their Intel Arc system might wait for the next big thing instead.
Taking to the official Crimson Desert X account, Pearl Abyss stated that “We are currently working on compatibility and optimization support so that Crimson Desert can also be enjoyed on Intel Arc GPU systems. We are preparing to provide a smooth and stable gameplay experience, and we ask for your patience until the support update becomes available.”
The company also goes on to apologize for “any confusion our FAQ wording from several hours ago regarding playability on Intel Arc GPUs may have caused,” missing the opportunity to directly apologize for launching the game without the support.
The issue at hand here is significant for three reasons. The first is that this lack of Intel Arc support doesn’t just mean the game isn’t officially supported such that it runs poorly or exhibits graphical glitches. Instead, it simply doesn’t run.
The second is that, while desktop Intel Arc graphics cards make up a tiny fraction of the market, they represent a larger proportion for gamers on a budget. For many, opting for a $300 Intel Arc B580 might have been the only viable option in the face of options from AMD and Nvidia being more expensive or unavailable. Now, those gamers are effectively being punished for making that budget-conscious choice.
Thirdly, there’s the fact that are vast numbers of laptops and other systems, such as the original Intel-powered MSI Claw gaming handheld, that use Intel CPUs with integrated Arc GPUs, all of which will be locked out of this game. Those GPUs are fairly weak, so don’t exactly excel at playing a game as lush and visually impressive Crimson Desert, but at least the option should have been there to play at potato resolution and graphics settings – potentially ideal for grinding out some of the more tedious exploration of the game.
Still, it is great to see that Pearl Abyss is addressing gamers’ concerns. Not only has the company already confirmed its action on the Intel Arc issue, but it has also acted to improve Crimson Desert boss balance and confirmed that use of AI in Crimson Desert was unintentional and will be removed. Now, if they could just address everything else that made our own Paul Kelly conclude that “[he] didn’t have the best time” in his Crimson Desert review, we might be on to a winner.
