PlayStation lets its users vote on its Player’s Choice award every month, and for March, that award has gone to Crimson Desert. You might see that and think, “Well, of course it has.” But considering its competition, and the fears surrounding Crimson Desert’s console version, it’s actually quite the achievement.
The Award For March’s Best PlayStation Game Goes To Crimson Desert
Crimson Desert was crowned the winner in March’s PlayStation Player Choice awards, as announced on the PlayStation Blog. It wasn’t noted whether the win was a landslide or not, but PlayStation did comment on some of the bigger titles Crimson Desert beat to win the award, including PlayStation-published titles like Marathon and MLB: The Show.
Pearl Abyss’ Share Price Is Now Higher Than It Was When Crimson Desert Launched
Shares have risen to 70,200 KRW, the highest they’ve been since April 2022.
Games have to have been released on PlayStation to qualify, of course. That means Crimson Desert was also more popular with PS5 users than Life Is Strange: Reunion and WWE 2K26. Perhaps predictable that Pearl Abyss’s expansive new game would outdo both of those titles in a player’s choice vote, but worth noting that the latest WWE game reviewed better than any other during the 2K era, and fan reviews of Reunion are the best they’ve been since the original Life is Strange.
It’s not just the games Crimson Desert beat for March’s crown that make its PlayStation award win impressive. There were concerns (big ones) for the PS5 version of the game ahead of its launch, and even issues once it was released. The game’s resolution wasn’t up to scratch on PS5 Pro, for example, and the controls were an issue for most people across all platforms.
Crimson Desert’s Post-Launch Updates Are A Big Reason Why It’s Been So Well-Received
The way Pearl Abyss handled those concerns and critiques, and how quickly it responded to them, almost certainly contributed to this award win just as much as the base game itself. Sure, people love Crimson Desert, but the votes that arguably matter even more are the ones that came from players who had problems with the game at launch, only for those problems to be fixed so quickly that they were addressed by the time voting on March’s player’s choice award had even begun.
The marketing director for Pearl Abyss, Will Powers, has already highlighted how important winning an award like this is to the team behind Crimson Desert. “This means more than you can imagine. Developers make games for the fans, so receiving their approval is the ultimate goal,” they tweeted, sharing a link to the blog post confirming their win.
It will be interesting to see how Crimson Desert performs come award season at the end of the year. It wasn’t the most well-reviewed game ever, but it clearly has a devoted audience – a big one – and is an incredible technical achievement, especially when it comes to its visuals. I can see it at least getting nominated for Game of the Year, and cleaning up when it comes to awards where players are the ones picking the winners.
- Released
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March 19, 2026
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
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Pearl Abyss
- Publisher(s)
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Pearl Abyss
