Pearl Abyss, best known to MMO fans for Black Desert and CCP Games’ EVE Online, has continued its humdrum financial performance in Q4 2023, with overall revenues of 84.4B KRW ($63.5M US), down 18.1% since Q4 2022, though it stayed pretty steadily at that mark throughout the whole year (Q4 2022 was a big quarter for the company).
As we noted last quarter, Black Desert’s Land of the Morning Light launches on PC and console pulled the game (and the company) out of its Q2 slump in Q3, but the game’s Q4 revenue performance dipped again, down nearly 11% compared to Q4 2022.
EVE Online’s performance across 2023 wasn’t a blowout, but Pearl Abyss was happy to focus on it anyway as it had a good Q4 compared to the previous Q4: EVE Online ended the year up 15% in revenues compared to the same quarter in 2022. We note that EVE Online is roughly one-third the size of the Black Desert franchise by revenue alone as of Q4, but the shift in relative sales heft has ensured commensurate bump-ups in NA/EU and PC revenue too.
To investors, Pearl Abyss continued to talk up EVE Online’s blockchain fiasco Project Awakening, the potential for a Black Desert release in China and on next-gen consoles, the impending launch of mobile EVE Galaxy Conquest, last year’s CCP London office move, and ongoing development for EVE Vanguard. The long-delayed Crimson Desert will apparently get marketing efforts in Q3/Q4 of this year, but at this point, don’t hold your breath.
• Pearl Abyss Q3 2024: Black Desert declines, EVE Online flattens, Crimson Desert dithers
• Pearl Abyss Q2 2024: Equinox bolstered EVE Online revenues as Crimson Desert waits in the wings
• Pearl Abyss Q1 2024: Revenues hold steady as Crimson Desert gears up for reveals
• Black Desert celebrates 55M registered players and €2B revenue since 2014
• Pearl Abyss Q4 2023: Well at least EVE Online had a good financial year
• Pearl Abyss Q3 2023: Black Desert’s Land of the Morning Light pulled PA out of its slump
• Pearl Abyss Q2 2023: EVE surges, Black Desert stumbles, Crimson Desert hedges
• Pearl Abyss Q1 2023: Black Desert and EVE Online revenues continue to decline
• CCP Games’ CEO defends Project Awakening’s existence as the studio seeks a blockchain ecosystem dev
• MMO Week in Review: Carn Dûm, Diablo IV, and CCP’s blockchain gamble
• CCP Games laid off more than dozen staffers from its EVE Online and FPS studios
• Pearl Abyss Q4 2022: Revenues decline as Black Desert and EVE hold steady and Crimson Desert malingers
• Pearl Abyss Q3 2022: DokeV and Crimson Desert delays, CCP’s new blockchain game, and EVE Online’s uptick
• CCP Games’ VR multiplayer game aspirations expire as EVE Valkyrie, Sparc, and EVE Gunjack go dark
• Pearl Abyss Q1 2022: Black Desert revenues take a hit, EVE Online hangs in there
• EVE Online boss: NFT stands for ‘Not for Tranquility’
• EVE Online and Black Desert studio Pearl Abyss believes it can ‘create a stable blockchain ecosystem’
• Desert Oasis: Unearthing the origin story of Black Desert studio Pearl Abyss
• Pearl Abyss downgraded DokeV from an MMORPG to ‘open-world action adventure’
• Pearl Abyss has delayed Crimson Desert indefinitely
• Pearl Abyss Q4 2020: An overall drop in profits and revenue but a revenue rise on PC
• Pearl Abyss Q3 2020: EVE Online’s revenues are up 45% YOY, Crimson Desert reveal coming in December
• Pearl Abyss Q2 2020: EVE Online is doing great, NA/EU drives 48% of company revenues
• Pearl Abyss Q1 2020 financials: Black Desert, EVE Online revenues hold steady
• Pearl Abyss had a strong Q4 2019, but CCP’s EVE-spinoff Project Nova is officially canceled
• G-Star 2019: Pearl Abyss fully reveals Crimson Desert, Plan 8, Shadow Arena, and DokeV
• Pearl Abyss announces three new MMOs: Crimson Desert, Plan 8, and DokeV
• Q2 2019 financials: Black Desert’s Pearl Abyss rakes in huge profits, builds six new games
• Black Desert has 18M registered players as Pearl Abyss counts $1B gross sales
• EVE Online developer CCP Games bought by Black Desert Online studio Pearl Abyss
• Q1 2018: Black Desert studio Pearl Abyss had a record first quarter thanks to mobile
Source:
Pearl Abyss,
Nosy Gamer. This article was corrected after publication; the translated financial document mistakenly suggested the London office move was still underway, but CCP since let us know that in fact the move was completed last year.