On the heels of Land of the Morning Light expansion coupled with last week’s popular Festa Event, Korean publisher and developer Pearl Abyss has experienced a dramatic surge of new and returning players worldwide.
In the last month, Black Desert Online witnessed a 267% increase in new players and a 335% in returning players globally, based on Pearl Abyss’ internal analytics. In one week on Steam, Black Desert Online reached number 13 ranking, jumping 50 spots in the U.S. Top Sellers category and hit its highest peak of 33,546 concurrent players in two years (33,859 players in July 2021). In Europe the following countries surged into the Top Sellers category: Belgium: 4; Norway: 5; Germany: 8; Spain: 9; France: 12; Netherlands: 13; UK: 14; Finland: 14; Sweden: 15; and Austria: 17.
In the last two weeks on streaming platform Twitch, Black Desert Online catapulted into the top 10 Trending Games bracket with 5,007,728 hours viewers watching (a 118.9% increase over the last two weeks), and a peak of 53,978 viewers (a 73.2% jump over the last two weeks), according to Twitch stats and analysis site, Sullygnome.
Pearl Abyss’ dedicated development team has updated its live MMORPG weekly for the past seven years in the Americas and Europe (8-plus years in Korea), giving players a constant stream of quality of life improvements, new content, gifts, and more.
The sudden wave of players is a result of its highly-rated Land of the Morning Light expansion (81 on Metacritic) – Korea’s Joseon era-based update based on boss battles, authentic landscapes, and folkloric narratives – prominent influencers’ renewed interest in Black Desert Online’s evolution, and the recent Festa Event, which surprised attendees with a slew of popular announcements.
At the Black Desert Festa, attended by 400 Adventurers and which took place in Suwon, Korea, Pearl Abyss unveiled:
- The unprecedented 600-player Rose War, a 300 v 300 PvP addition that stoked players’ imaginations by focusing on combat and strategy without the requirements to build fortresses and other fortifications before battle
- A Boss Blitz Update including the powerful serpent Imoogi
- The instant availability of Maegu class’ Awakening form
- A new season for Arena of Solare, 3v3 ranked PvP content
- And the unprecedented gift of a free Dream Horse, an incredibly difficult creature to obtain. Adventurers can acquire and use “Vipiko’s Calling Horn” to magically transform a rocking horse into one of three Dream Horses. (Those who have not claimed the item yet can find it in the Challenge tab until July 26.)
Pearl Abyss’ diligent focus on listening to and rewarding its players was shown in a heartfelt open letter written by Black Desert Online’s Lead Producer Jaehee Kim.
For more information on Black Desert Online, please visit the official website. To stay up to date with the latest events in Black Desert, follow the game on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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