Black Desert launches on Xbox, all of your questions answered

Black Desert is a third-person action game by Korean developer Pearl Abyss. The title can be classified as a sandbox-oriented massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) which offers players unprecedented freedom. You need to love exploration and be able to engage challenging enemies in a heartbeat if you want to succeed.

The game takes place in a fantasy setting and revolves around the conflict between the rival nations of Calpheon and Valencia. Black stones are a precious commodity and Calpheon doesn't have any way of mining them due to its geographical location. This causes the desperate nation to launch raids into other territories, particularly Valencia, which holds the vast Black Desert with a near-infinite amount of stones.

Black Desert: Deluxe Edition and Ultimate Edition are available right now for $50 and $100, respectively. Not only do these bundles grant early access ahead of next week's launch, but they also contain a variety of cosmetic items. If you love the MMORPG genre or have played Black Desert Online on PC, be sure to consider them. There's going to be a $10 base version available, too.

We're also holding a giveaway to win Black Desert that you can enter on the competition page. We recently got the chance to ask Black Desert's Lead Producer KwangSam Kim some questions about the game and the Xbox One port. You can read his responses below.

Who is Pearl Abyss and why should players care about Black Desert?

• Pearl Abyss is the... game developer and publisher behind the MMORPG franchise, Black Desert. Established in 2010, we've developed Black Desert on PC, mobile, and consoles, and are continuing to grow... We've even expanded to create Pearl Abyss America, which is based in Manhattan Beach, California, to help expand our ability to self-publish games to reach new players. We're looking forward to bringing Black Desert to all platforms, starting with the official launch of Black Desert for Xbox One on March 4 — and we can't wait to share this new adventure with players!

Why did Pearl Abyss decide to develop Black Desert for consoles?

• While Black Desert was originally created as a PC-based MMORPG, we realized that with powerful consoles like the Xbox One, we could share the world of Black Desert with a new audience while still showing off how beautiful the world is in-game. It's also something that we've been hearing fans request for a long time, and so we're happy to finally bring Black Desert to Xbox One.

How does Black Desert on Xbox One differ from Black Desert Online on PC? Will all PC content be available for Xbox One players?

• Ever since Pearl Abyss started development of Black Desert for Xbox One, it has been our mission to bring everything included in Black Desert Online on PC to Xbox One. We're working on bringing all content over from the PC version, and will continue to do so through free updates to the base game after launch, including new classes, Absolute Skills, Node and Siege Wars, world bosses, and zones to explore in 2019. It's a constant balance for us to be able to add new content that helps new players get acclimated to the game, as well as other content that for core, veteran players to experience. Two of the most important tasks we prioritized were to optimize Black Desert's user interface for a console player, as well as to make it comfortable to play with a controller. Through user feedback in our past two open betas for Black Desert, we've been able to create a control system that allows for a fluid and responsive experience, which is especially important for an action role-playing (ARPG) game with real-time combat. In addition, our user interface is highly customizable, so that every player can pick and choose which content they want to see in-game.

What engine does Pearl Abyss use for development of Black Desert?

• Pearl Abyss has developed Black Desert using a proprietary engine that we've created ourselves. This allows us to have the most control over many different elements of development, including rendering speed, script-based actions, art resources and allocation tools, script-based interface, and more. The entire Pearl Abyss development team uses this proprietary engine, including the Programming, Design, Art, and Audio teams, for example. As a result of internal upgrades to the engine for Physical Based Rendering, High Dynamic Range, and Post Processing, Pearl Abyss is now able to support 4K resolution for Black Desert on Xbox One!

Pearl Abyss held two open betas for Black Desert. How did they go?

• Pearl Abyss held two open betas for Black Desert to gather feedback from Xbox One players and evaluate the technical performance of our game. These helped ensure that players would be getting the core gameplay experience we aimed to deliver, as well as to test out server behavior and response — especially in high-population areas. During our Final Open Beta in February 2019, we also tested new gameplay events, like Node Wars, to get feedback from players and help us determine it will be added to the game, likely soon after launch. It's incredible that over the course of both betas, we had over 300,000 players join... We're very confident for the launch of Black Desert and will continue making additional adjustments to the game as needed.

For those who weren't able to play in the previous betas, what can players expect to see in Black Desert?

• For us, Black Desert is all about becoming your true self within a massive, living world. Starting with our extensive character creation system, players have the ability to define their own adventure – from diving straight into a massive-scale player vs. player war and engage in combat against huge player vs. enemy bosses, or pursuing different life skills like fishing, horse taming, or even alchemy. While much of the content in Black Desert can be enjoyed alone, much like a single-player ARPG, there's always the opportunity to interact with other live players in an online environment that's constantly changing and reacting based on what players do.