Pearl Abyss says it’s starting to allocate more staff to work on DokeV, the open-world creature-collecting game it announced seven years ago.
DokeV was announced during a Pearl Abyss Connect presentation back in November 2019, during which it also showed a reveal trailer for Crimson Desert.
After this, the studio committed most of its resources to finishing Crimson Desert, which was released in March this year.
While Pearl Abyss continues to work on patches, updates and DLC for Crimson Desert, as well as an upcoming Switch 2 port, the studio says it’s now able to commit more of its resources to finishing DokeV.
“Since our development staffing is managed flexibly depending on the operational phase of each project, we are unable to disclose specific headcount numbers,” it said in an earnings letter posted to investors.
“However, as patch operations for Crimson Desert stabilize, development resources are being progressively reallocated to DokeV. We remain fully committed to meeting our targeted launch timeframe of the second half of 2028.”
According to the studio, DokeV is now planned for a release in the second half of 2028, and players may not see much of it for another year because its “reveal strategy is being aligned with this timeline”.
“Leveraging the technological capabilities and development experience accumulated during the development of Crimson Desert, development is progressing smoothly,” it added. “As the project advances, we are steadily expanding our development manpower to accelerate the pace of development.
“Details, gameplay videos, and other materials will be disclosed step by step based on development progress and marketing strategy. Considering the current pace of development, full-scale marketing initiatives, including hands-on demos, are expected to begin around the second half of 2027.”
DokeV is a “creature-collecting open world” game, Pearl Abyss says
Featuring a notably different tone from Crimson Desert, DokeV is a colourful open-world adventure game which appears to take inspiration from titles like Pokémon.
“DokeV is an upcoming creature-collecting open world action-adventure from Pearl Abyss filled with intriguing stories and set in a unique, vibrant world,” the game’s 2019 description read.
“Meet Dokebi, whimsical creatures that live side-by-side with humans and encourage people’s dreams from which they gain strength. The gorgeous and colorful world of DokeV is brimming with activities, stories, and experiences, so get ready to befriend tons of Dokebi and to embark on an adventure.”
In the same letter, Pearl Abyss announced that a Switch 2 version of Crimson Desert is being planned for the first half of next year, saying it was undergoing “technical evaluations” to make sure it runs to an acceptable level of performance.
“For platform expansion, the core focus is ensuring that Crimson Desert’s signature graphics, action, and open-world experience are fully preserved, rather than executing a simple port,” it said.
“In the case of Switch 2, the game has reached a playable baseline, and we are currently conducting technical reviews regarding performance optimization and quality standard compliance, targeting a release in the first half of next year.”
