9 March 2026

New Crimson Desert Report Suggests Strong PS5 Performance

By newsgame

Crimson Desert, the highly anticipated open-world action-adventure game from Pearl Abyss, may have stronger-than-expected performance on the base PlayStation 5. While Crimson Desert‘s developer has yet to reveal specific performance targets for the game on consoles, a recent hands-on preview claims that the title may be targeting above the traditional 30 FPS while in ‘Quality’ mode, which often targets higher resolutions, such as 4K.

After first being revealed back in 2019, Crimson Desert will finally release for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC later this month. While its launch is just a little over a week away at the time of writing, fans are still in the dark about the title’s performance on consoles. Developer Pearl Abyss has shown tons of gameplay footage from Crimson Desert over the last few weeks, but much of it has been captured on PC, leading to concern among those eager to pre-order the game on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. With such a massive open world at players’ fingertips, with more features than many have ever seen before in just one video game, it’s only natural to be cautiously optimistic about its performance. After all, we all remember how Cyberpunk 2077 performed on consoles at launch.

Crimson Desert RPG Leveling and Skill System

Crimson Desert’s Skills Look Nothing Like a Traditional RPG, and You Won’t ‘Level Up’ Normally

Crimson Desert throws out XP bars and traditional leveling, replacing RPG norms with exploration-driven growth and skill discovery.

Crimson Desert May Run Above 30 FPS on Base PS5

Some fans were recently given the chance to go hands-on with Crimson Desert as part of an early preview event, which revealed tons of new details about one of 2026’s most anticipated releases. While there were no FPS or performance details shared during the event, Korean content creator Game Tong claimed that during their six hours with the game, Crimson Desert appeared to be running above the traditional 30 FPS while also at 4K on a base PlayStation 5. Although the gameplay shown during the video was not captured from the PS5, they state that it felt like it was around 40 FPS. However, it is worth noting that this was merely on the previewer’s instincts as opposed to actual testing. But, if the previewer’s estimates are correct, Crimson Desert could be targeting somewhere between 30 and 60 FPS for its 4K Quality mode, while its Performance mode will likely hit 60 FPS at 1080p.

Balance the critic averages

Easy (6)Medium (8)Hard (10)

Unfortunately, Crimson Desert‘s PS5 performance still remains a mystery, despite there being just a little over a week until the game’s release. A developer at Pearl Abyss recently lashed out at fans who were claiming that the studio is “hiding” the game’s performance on consoles, saying that they were “sick” of repeating themselves. The developer then reiterated to the user that they are not hiding anything about Crimson Desert and plan to reveal further details ahead of the game’s launch, with adequate time for fans to then determine if they wish to pre-order it.

Although it’s unclear what performance options will look like on the base PS5, Pearl Abyss has confirmed that Crimson Desert will support the PS5 Pro at launch. Unfortunately, despite official confirmation that the game will have enhancements for the PS5’s beefier Pro version, the studio has yet to confirm exactly what these upgrades will be. Usually, games that come with official PS5 Pro support will often take advantage of the console’s more powerful GPU to target 120 FPS in Performance mode, boost ray-tracing performance, and sharpen 4K resolution with AI upscaling. Again, exactly how Crimson Desert intends to make use of the Pro’s improved hardware remains unconfirmed.

Many fans will likely be going into Crimson Desert cautiously optimistic, but the good news is that Pearl Abyss’ highly anticipated open-world title went Gold a full two months before its planned March 19 release date. This means the studio has been entirely focused on optimization and bug fixes for the last eight weeks, which should mean there are no performance issues on consoles. However, with such a massive open world, reportedly twice the size of Skyrim, fans are still sceptical.