Pearl Abyss shares languish near 3-year lows despite 'Red Desert' selling 6 million copies

Pearl Abyss' promotional booth for "Red Desert" at Gamescom in Germany. [Pearl Abyss]

"They said it wrote a new chapter in K-gaming history — so why has the share price gone from 140,000 won to 40,000 won?" said a Pearl Abyss shareholder in his 30s.

Pearl Abyss' new title "Red Desert" has surpassed 6 million copies sold, yet the company's share price has failed to recover. After a brief surge at launch, the stock slid back into the 40,000-won range — roughly one-third of its all-time high of around 140,000 won.

According to Korea Exchange data, Pearl Abyss shares closed at 41,150 won on Friday. The stock has remained sluggish despite "Red Desert," released in late March, achieving record-breaking sales of 6 million copies.

Pearl Abyss earlier announced that "Red Desert" had reached 6 million copies sold — a milestone hit 83 days after launch. The title sold 2 million copies on its first day and 5 million before the end of its first month, with the 6 million figure setting yet another record.

The company called the result "an unprecedented sales record in the history of Korean console games." The "Red Desert" development team wrote on the game's official social media account: "We sincerely thank all the Greymantle players who visited Pywel and experienced the world in their own way."

Pearl Abyss' "Red Desert." [Pearl Abyss]

The company also said the achievement carries added significance because "Red Desert" is a new intellectual property that broke through a global console market dominated by established franchise titles. US market research firm Circana's ranking of 2026 US video game sales, published in May, placed "Red Desert" second in cumulative annual sales.

Pearl Abyss plans to update "Red Desert" at a rapid pace, recently announcing a third-quarter update and confirming downloadable content is in development. CEO Heo Jin-young said: "Despite being a new IP, 'Red Desert' has achieved meaningful results in the global market, and we are truly grateful to players around the world. Pearl Abyss will continue to push toward new challenges to deliver a more enjoyable and improved experience."

However, the share price has continued to fall despite the record-breaking sales and the sharp revenue jump that followed. Although "Red Desert" launched March 20 — near the end of the first quarter — it drove first-quarter sales of 266.5 billion won ($192 million), a 419.8 percent increase from the same period a year earlier. Operating profit rose 2,584.8 percent year-on-year to 212.1 billion won ($153 million).

A visitor tries out "Red Desert," Pearl Abyss' first new title in seven years, at the "Red Desert X AMD Pop-Up Store 2025." [Cha Min-ju/chami@]

Securities analysts and industry watchers point to three factors behind the share price's struggles: a broader industry trend in which a new title's commercial success is no longer fully reflected in the stock price, the "Red Desert" effect having already been priced in ahead of launch, and concerns about what comes next.

Samsung Securities cited "limited upside relative to the current share price, a gap in new releases stretching to 2028, and the tendency for game companies to be re-rated lower after a major launch." The brokerage added that "Red Desert" DLC would take one to two years to release, while the next titles — "Dokkaebi" and "Plan 8" — each require roughly two more years of development, making a one-to-two-year new-release momentum gap unavoidable.

Meritz Securities said it was "hard to deny that the peak of the event is passing," adding that market attention has now shifted to monetizing potential demand in China, formalizing the DLC schedule, and shareholder returns.

chami@heraldcorp.com