Pearl Abyss" new action-adventure game, Crimson Desert, has only been out for a few days, and it has already gotten into a few controversies. One of these was regarding support for PC players using graphics hardware from the Intel camp, where they were completely blocked from even launching the game. Now, the developer has updated its statement about the issue.
Intel also jumped in with a statement to Neowin over the weekend about Crimson Desert not supporting its graphics hardware:
We’re aware that Crimson Desert currently doesn’t launch on systems with Intel GPUs and we’re hugely disappointed that players using Intel graphics hardware can’t jump into the world of Pywel at launch.
Getting games running smoothly is always a partnership between developers and hardware makers. Over the past several years, we’ve reached out to Pearl Abyss many times to help test, validate, and optimize support for Intel graphics, providing early hardware, drivers, and engineering resources across multiple generations, including Alchemist, Battlemage, Meteor Lake, and Lunar Lake.
Our teams are deeply committed to helping all studios deliver the best experience possible, providing open tools, documentation, and direct engineering support to make sure their games run well for everyone, including the tens of millions of players using Intel GPUs. We remain ready to assist Pearl Abyss however we can.
For details on the choice not to enable Intel support at launch, please reach out directly to Pearl Abys..
Thus the company had reached out to Pearl Abyss for several years with early hardware and engineering resources to test and optimize the game for ARC, and it doesn"t look like the studio had responded to its offers. "We remain ready to assist Pearl Abyss however we can," Intel added.
At launch, running Crimson Desert on an ARC GPU-powered PC, whether it be integrated or discrete graphics, would simply throw an error saying that the graphics device was not supported. This lack of support was not communicated to players prior to launch either.
Now, following the v.1.00.03 update that was released on March 23, ARC users are reporting that the game has suddenly started to launch. Unfortunately, it doesn"t look like the game is functioning well on Intel graphics still. Users have said that the game only outputs black and blue screens when playing using ARC hardware.
Pearl Abyss has updated the FAQ section about it not supporting ARC products too. Previously, it simply said that ARC graphics is not supported in Crimson Desert and asked affected players to seek refunds.
Following the change, the studio says that it"s working on the hardware for support and optimizations:
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 would appreciate your patience until the support update becomes available.
Curiously, this is an updated version of a previous note that was seen earlier today, which said that ARC owners can now access the game. A timeline for fixes and optimizations has not been given yet.