Why Doesn't Crimson Desert Use Unreal Engine 5? Developers Reveal the Reason

Crimson Desert developers explained why Pearl Abyss used their proprietary BlackSpace Engine instead of Unreal Engine 5. This allows for faster updates, technology control, and adaptation to various platforms.

In an interview, lead engineer Jin-hwan Kim and head of graphics division Jin-ho Yoon spoke about the creation of the BlackSpace Engine. According to them, the engine inherited the experience of Black Desert, including seamless world loading and handling large volumes of data.

Crimson Desert was initially planned as an MMO, so BlackSpace was designed with multiplayer support from the start. Developers also use scalable rendering to reduce the load with a large number of light sources, shadows, and textures.

Special attention was paid to low-end systems. Pearl Abyss is trying to reduce memory consumption and is working on launching the game on devices with low specifications, including Switch 2. However, optimizing ray tracing for weak hardware remains a challenging task.

The developers explained their rejection of a commercial engine by their desire not to depend on third-party technologies and updates. Proprietary technology allows for faster implementation of necessary functions and release of patches, maintaining control over the development process.