"We are aware of the discomfort many players have experienced with the controls, and we are currently preparing a patch to address this." That's Pearl Abyss speaking directly to Crimson Desert players just over 36 hours after launch, and it's about as candid an admission as you'll get from a major studio this early in a game's life.
What Players Have Been Dealing With Since Launch
Crimson Desert launched to nearly 250,000 concurrent players on Steam, which is a genuinely impressive number. The problem is that the game's current Steam user review status sits at "mixed," and the controls are the single biggest reason why.
Players have described the controls as clunky and unnecessarily complicated. The game even warns you at startup to use a controller rather than keyboard and mouse, which is a telling sign that Pearl Abyss knew KB&M support wasn't where it needed to be. What most players are specifically asking for is controller remapping and full key binding support, neither of which are currently available in any meaningful way.
It's not just PC players feeling the friction either. PS5 owners have been troubleshooting blurry visuals since day one, an issue that also appears on the PC version.
danger
Pearl Abyss has not confirmed a release date for the controls patch, nor specified exactly what changes it will include. If you're a KB&M player, a controller is still the recommended option for now.
Pearl Abyss Speaks Up
The full statement from Pearl Abyss is worth reading in context. The studio addressed players directly as "Fellow Greymanes" and acknowledged it has been monitoring feedback across issue reports, videos, livestreams, and community discussions since launch. The apology to keyboard and mouse players was explicit: the developer admitted it failed to provide a "satisfactory gameplay experience" for that group.
The key here is that Pearl Abyss stopped short of giving any timeline or specifics about what the patch will actually fix. That's going to frustrate players who want concrete answers, especially those who bought the game expecting functional KB&M support on day one.
According to the developer's statement on rapid improvements, Crimson Desert sold 2 million copies within a single day of release. That's a massive commercial win, but it also means a very large number of players are currently sitting with a frustrating experience.
Pywel awaits — controls permitting
The Pressure Behind the Patch
Pearl Abyss has real financial motivation to move fast here. The company's stock dropped nearly 30% following critic reviews, then fell a further 9.78% the following day. For context, the studio reportedly spent seven years developing Crimson Desert at a cost of approximately 200 billion won (around $133 million USD). A "mixed" Steam rating is not the return on investment anyone was hoping for.
There's also an unresolved controversy hanging over the game: accusations that Crimson Desert contains AI-generated art. Pearl Abyss has not responded to those claims. If true, it would put the studio in violation of Steam's AI Content disclosure policy, which requires developers to flag generative AI use on their store page. No such disclaimer currently exists on the Crimson Desert store page.
The controls issue is fixable. The question is how quickly Pearl Abyss can deliver something substantial enough to shift player sentiment on Steam, where reviews carry serious weight for long-term sales. Make sure to check out more:
