Pearl Abyss Q1 2022: Black Desert revenues take a hit, EVE Online hangs in there

If you were curious about how Pearl Abyss is performing since its Q4 announcement – during which we learned that both of its core MMORPGs were shrinking, the company was exploring play-to-earn shenanigans, and it was making bank off its venture capital subsidiary – then the latest investor report is definitely going to bring your curiosity to a middle.

Pearl Abyss’ Q1 2022 financial report shows a drop in operating revenue both since last quarter and since Q1 2021; revenues are down around 9.4% YOY. More than half of its revenue still comes from the west, while mobile and console revenues continue to shrink relative to PC revenues.

As for the games themselves, Black Desert is still down almost 15% in revenues compared to this quarter last year, though it’s quite a bit improved over its Q4 drop. And while EVE Online saw strong revenues in the middle of 2021, it’s still coming out slightly ahead for the quarter compared to Q1 last year. (While bargegate happened during the quarter, CCP Games’ other recent unforced errors were in April and won’t show until Q2’s report, if they aren’t offset by the sub hike.)

The report reiterates that Pearl Abyss is still working on three additional games: Crimson Desert, which was indefinitely delayed; DokeV, which is no longer an MMO, and Plan 8.

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