The marketing campaign for Crimson Desert showed a hero traveling on a huge dragon. It turned out that such entertainment is not always available, which caused a negative reaction.
The advertisement featured the hero riding dragons, wolves, bears, and other creatures. For many, this was a clear hint that they could be unlocked for exploring the world. However, the reality turned out to be more modest.
Players discovered that the only permanent companions that can be freely summoned are horses. It is possible to ride other creatures, but it doesn't work as expected. Instead of a full-fledged taming system, you first need to exhaust the beast, after which it becomes aggressive again after a short time.
The dragon from the endgame caused the most emotions. There is an option for permanent access to it, but even here players are limited: you can only fly for 15 minutes of real time, after which a 50-minute cooldown is triggered. This provoked a sharp reaction from the community.
On Reddit, players openly accuse Pearl Abyss of misleading the audience. According to many, the authors were well aware of what they were doing by showing saddled bears and wolves in the trailers. One thought dominates in the comments: this needs to be changed. Fans are putting pressure on the studio to release an update and allow summoning on their own terms.
