‘Crimson Desert’ Has Better Player Retention Than ‘Elden Ring’ So Far

InnovationGaming‘Crimson Desert’ Has Better Player Retention Than ‘Elden Ring’ So FarByPaul Tassi,Senior Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. News and opinion about video games, television, movies and the internet.Follow AuthorApr 27, 2026, 10:06am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Crimson DesertPearl AbyssJust because a game is huge, that doesn’t mean that players will stick around necessarily. And for a supposed “just okay” game that didn’t impress critics, Crimson Desert is doing phenomenally well.In its first month of release, Crimson Desert has retained over half its concurrent players, a wild marker for a single-player game, as those normally have understandably rapid falloff. But Crimson Desert is now in the territory of, and just edging out, a game like Elden Ring, which had slightly less retention in its first month (though it was still stellar).However, I think Crimson Desert deserves even a little more credit here. It launched at $70 compared to Elden Ring’s $60, part of this new, widespread price increase in the industry.Second, Crimson Desert has no reason to do a second playthrough to do a new run or make a new build, whereas Elden Ring has loads of different options for that. It’s also not like you can start over and play the game as Damiane or Oongka (at least not yet). Crimson Desert has such a hard ending that you can literally kill every single enemy on the map and have nothing left to fight. I haven’t even seen so much as a wolf in the last 20 hours.Crimson DesertSteamdbThis is not some sort of all-time record, of course. I think that honor may go to Baldur’s Gate 3, which has the most retention of a single-player (mostly) game I’ve ever seen, which is still hitting 75,000 concurrent peaks almost three years after release, and it had a much lower first-month drop than either Elden Ring or Crimson Desert.MORE FOR YOU...