Cyberpunk 2077 really did a number on how players look at major upcoming games. Yes, it's now an incredibly successful RPG, but its launch is an event that no one will soon forget, and CD Projekt RED's blatant misdirection regarding how the game ran on last-gen consoles has made players incredibly weary of any big game that doesn't put console gameplay footage front and center, and now, Crimson Desert, one of the most anticipated titles of 2026, seems to be feeling the ripple effects from that launch.
To be clear, we have seen footage of Crimson Desert running on consoles, but the issue that's causing a stir on X (formerly Twitter) has to do with the fact that we are now weeks away from its March 19, 2026, release date, and outlets that have been sent review copies have reportedly only been sent copies of the game on PC. It's not clear why no one seems to have been sent a code for the game on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S, but this is also how CD Projekt RED was able to put Cyberpunk 2077's best foot forward.
It didn't provide outlets with review codes for the game on PlayStation or Xbox, so when reviews based solely on the PC version were incredibly positive, players who hadn't yet upgraded to the next console generation (which, at the time, had only kicked off weeks before Cyberpunk 2077's initial launch) were disappointed to take their pre-ordered copies home to their PS4 and Xbox One, only to find the game they had been waiting years for to be broken and unplayable.
Now, players' concerns over Crimson Desert being a repeat of that situation have boiled over online, and Pearl Abyss' PR Western-facing PR representative, Will Powers, has responded to anyone who believes the studio is trying to misconstrue or 'hide' the game on consoles.
"We're not hiding anything, and I'm sick of having to repeat myself," Powers said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). "I've repeated 100s of times that we'll reveal things ahead of launch to give people adequate time to still preorder the game for themselves. We're saying this openly...Let us cook? Please and thank you. /rant."
It's worth noting that despite the fact that we've seen footage of Crimson Desert on consoles, that's only been in highly edited trailers. The longer-form deep-dive videos that look into various elements of its gameplay all come with notes in the description clarifying that the footage was captured on PC.
As much as we'd all like to believe that we won't see another catastrophic launch like Cyberpunk 2077's 2020 arrival again, the truth of the matter for Crimson Desert is that we don't have a concrete reason to trust that it won't be a similar situation.
Hopefully, we'll get that sign sometime before release, if only to provide players with some peace of mind. For our part here at Wccftech, we are reviewing it on PC, though we'll be sure to keep a close eye on how the game performs on consoles.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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