Jack Huynh, Senior Vice President of AMD's Computing and Graphics Group, and Joseph Macri, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), reportedly visited Pearl Abyss on October 8, making it the only Korean game company on their itinerary.
During the visit, the executives met with Pearl Abyss CEO Jin-young Heo, toured the development site of Crimson Desert, and discussed ways to expand technical cooperation, including streamlining game development and enhancing the gaming experience.
The visit coincided with the South Korea trip of Lisa Su, Chair and CEO of AMD. A day earlier, on October 7, Su met with Ryu Je-myung, Second Vice Minister of Science and ICT, at the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul and held a roundtable discussion with domestic AI semiconductor companies. Following up on the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between the Ministry of Science and ICT and AMD last July, Vice Minister Ryu proposed partnerships across three major mega-projects: semiconductors, AI data centers, and physical AI.
On the same day, Su also met with executives from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to discuss AI cooperation. Su reportedly returned to the U.S. due to official government-related commitments, and did not accompany the executives on the visit to Pearl Abyss on October 8.
Huynh personally mentioned Crimson Desert during 'AMD Gamer Day' held in Yongsan, Seoul, on October 7, the day before the visit. "Crimson Desert is a game I bought myself," he said. "It was impressive to see them release updates every 24 hours reflecting community feedback."
Cooperation between the two companies has continued since the development stage of Crimson Desert. Pearl Abyss held private demos of Crimson Desert at the AMD booth during Gamescom 2023, and featured a playable demo at its own booth equipped with AMD PCs at Gamescom 2024. In September 2025, the two companies officially announced a strategic collaboration for optimizing the gaming experience and handling the global release of Crimson Desert.
From October 30 to November 1 of the same year, Pearl Abyss held the 'Crimson Desert X AMD Pop-up Store' in Hongdae, Seoul, unveiling a 50-minute demo featuring large-scale battles, quests, and open-world exploration. Crimson Desert was subsequently released globally on PC and consoles last March. Pearl Abyss also implemented AMD's upscaling technology, FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR), into Black Desert.
Meanwhile, Pearl Abyss will release 'Charting the Unknown', the first downloadable content (DLC) expansion for 'Crimson Desert Enhanced', on October 30. It was originally scheduled to launch on October 16, but was delayed by two weeks to improve overall quality. 'Charting the Unknown' is a paid expansion pack adding new regions, underwater exploration, and housing systems. Pre-orders are currently available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Steam, and the Epic Games Store.
