Pearl Abyss responds to the use of AI imagery in Crimson Desert!

Recently, many eagle-eyed individuals on social media have discovered that Pearl Abyss uses a lot of AI imagery in Crimson Desert .

Specifically, many people have noticed that the wall paintings in the game have a rather poor design and image quality. In particular, these paintings contain many elements that suggest they may have been created by AI – such as the illogical distortion of the horse's legs in the painting.

However, what caught many people's attention the most was that, despite the use of AI in the artwork, Pearl Abyss did not publicly share this detail on Steam – violating the online game store's rules.

A Redditor has discovered an AI generated artwork in Crimson Desert.

There are other posts that also claim to have found AI generated images throughout the game.

It's not even a 'good' image. Pure slop, just look at the horses legs LMAO. Really disappointing. pic.twitter.com/kUSvqDcUtR

— GameRoll (@GameRoll_) March 20, 2026

To date, in a post on Twitter, the developer has issued an official response regarding the existence of these images in the game. Specifically, they stated that the AI-generated images were created for 'placeholder' purposes and their presence in the final version of the game was entirely due to 'oversight'.

'During development, a number of 2D images were created in the early testing phase, using experimental AI generation tools. These images helped us quickly explore the tone and atmosphere of the game in the early stages of production.'

However, our policy from the beginning was to replace all of this content – ​​after our art and development team had finalized and reviewed it – with images that conformed to our quality standards and creative direction.

Following community feedback, we have determined that some of the aforementioned resources were inadvertently included in the official release. This violates our internal standards, and we take full responsibility for this incident.

We would like to address questions regarding the use of AI in Crimson Desert.

During development, some 2D visual props were created as part of early-stage experimental iteration using AI generative tools. These assets helped us rapidly explore tone and atmosphere in the earlier…

— Crimson Desert (@CrimsonDesert_) March 22, 2026

The developers stated that the reason they didn't publicly share details about the use of AI-generated imagery was because they thought the images would be adjusted before the game's release, but they were wrong.

To address the issue, Pearl Abyss is conducting a comprehensive review of all content in Crimson Desert to identify AI-generated content and remove it from the game.

Furthermore, the company will also review the internal processes that led to this error.

Currently, Crimson Desert is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC (via Steam and Epic Games Store), as well as on Mac and ROG Xbox Ally at a price of $70 for the standard edition.

To learn more about the game, you can visit the official website.