When I think of MMORPGs, I think of them as titanic beasts that are difficult to tame at the beginning, but are worth all the effort you put into them. I came to Black Desert Online, a new MMO from Pearl Abyss and Daum Games, partly because it looks like it can be that kind of beast, but I haven’t been able to fully enjoy it, because the game is still in its beta state. That may change soon, as it has been announced that the game will enter the closed beta test stage before the end of this year. The currently open beta test lasts until the end of this month (December), and over 100,000 players are already enjoying it. As the game has only had its open beta
Black Desert, a sandbox-style sandbox game, recently announced that the number of daily players has passed the 300,000 mark. However, their announcement post doesn’t really provide any details on their audience sizes. Other companies in the same genre as Black Desert have offered a glimpse of their player numbers, so we know that they are on the rise.
Warning: The information in this article will disappoint you. Pearl Abyss has indeed released relative figures for Black Desert, claiming that the number of daily players has increased by over 300%. Over 300% of what, you ask? Hey, look over there!
Pearl Abyss has announced that Black Desert Online has seen an increase of over 300% in daily players, both new and old, thanks to new content updates, a seasonal server, and trade promotions, according to the studio, which also suggests that Geidel Ball, the summer seasonal server, the new Corsair class, and the free trial period have helped explain the increase. The popular game has reached the top spot on Steam in the MMORPG category.
Last fall, Pearl Abyss counted 40 million registered players on BDO across all four platforms, but of course we have no idea how many players actually log into the game each month. According to SteamCharts, the PC version of the game – again, only through Steam – showed more modest growth last month, but is still quite far from the 2019 peak of 60,000 players on Steam.
For comparison, since we’re playing with numbers: Elder Scrolls Online had 18 million lifetime players at the last count, Albion Online reached a daily population peak of 140,000 players in the spring, DC Universe Online is the morning’s largest MMORPG with 419,000 monthly active players in 2020, Blizzard’s online games like WoW have lost nearly 29% of their total active player base in the last three years, and I drank exactly two cups of tea this morning.
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