Black Desert Online Developer Pearl Abyss Preps IPO, Boasts Over $300m Revenue
Pearl Abyss, the Korean studio behind Black Desert Online is preparing to go public via an initial public offering (IPO). This process requires certain financial disclosures and gives us a chance to see just how well the company is performing.
We're happy to report that our 2016 MMORPG of the year is is doing just fine. Black Desert Online has raked in ~$300 million in revenue globally since its initial 2015 release. The game had 7.65 million registered users as of July 2017 and continues to grow.
Steam unit sales, which started in May 2017, are at 530,000 and have brought in $1.3 million of revenue. While that number may seem low, remember that the primary driver of revenue for BDO is the in-game cash shop.
Other interesting numbers from the IPO pitch include the 200,000 pre-orders the game has racked up in China. The Chinese publisher, Snail Games, has completed translation and other localization efforts and should be ready to launch the game soon. Black Desert is also slated to release for Xbox One soon, and Pearly Abyss has stated their intention to release the game in Southeast Asia, Turkey, and across the Middle East. Even a mobile version, titled Black Desert Online M, is in the works.
“The console market in the NA, the region where we have already launched our PC version, is 5 to 10 times bigger than that of PC online. We expect to make bigger results compared to the PC market.”
The most impressive numbers to come out of the IPO pitch involve the development costs of Black Desert Online and Pearl Abyss's staffing choices. 87% of their employees are developers. BDO itself was built on a self-developed engine for a cost of ~$1 million USD. That level of operational and technical competence is extremely rare, and I would argue no longer even possible in the West. I predict a bright future for Pearl Abyss.
Further Reading: InvenGlobal IPO Conference Coverage
