Mike York puts Crimson Desert in the same year as GTA 6

Former Rockstar senior animator Mike York, who worked on Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA 5, said on YouTube that Crimson Desert could compete for game of the year if GTA 6 lands below expectations or stumbles at launch.

He points to detail, environmental physics and the number of systems, and he compares the scope to Red Dead Redemption 2. He thinks the world can hold a player for more than a hundred hours. His condition is that the systems have to meet a strong single-player story.

The game is already gold and launches on 19 March 2026 for PC and consoles. By then Pearl Abyss had confirmed there would be no microtransactions at launch.