Intel Offered Hardware Optimization Help to Crimson Desert Developer for Years, Company Says

The controversy where open-world fantasy game “Crimson Desert” isn’t supported on Intel Arc GPUs to the point of the game refusing to even launch on systems with Arc GPUs, drew its first response from Intel. Gamers with Intel Arc graphics cards got a rude shock earlier this week, as the game flat-out refused to start on their systems, with a dialog box simply saying “the graphics device is currently not supported.” In its FAQ, “Crimson Desert” developer Pearl Abyss said that the game doesn’t currently support Arc GPUs, and gamers who bought the game expecting it should seek refunds.

In its statement to Wccftech, Intel says that it reached out to Pearl Abyss over the past several years to help optimize the game for its hardware. “Crimson Desert” has been in development for over 6 years prior to its launch earlier this week. “We’ve reached out to Pearl Abyss many time to help test, validate, and optimize support for Intel graphics, providing early hardware, drivers, and engineering resources across multiple generations, including “Alchemist,” “Battlemage,” “Meteor Lake” (Xe-LPG), and “Lunar Lake” (Xe2-LPG),” the statement goes. The company says that it “remains ready to assist Pearl Abyss.”

The complete statement by Intel follows.

“We’re aware that Crimson Desert currently doesn’t launch on systems with Intel GPUs and we’re hugely disappointed that players using Intel graphics hardware can’t jump into the world of Pywel at launch.

Getting games running smoothly is always a partnership between developers and hardware makers. Over the past several years, we’ve reached out to Pearl Abyss many times to help test, validate, and optimize support for Intel graphics, providing early hardware, drivers, and engineering resources across multiple generations, including Alchemist, Battlemage, Meteor Lake, and Lunar Lake.

Our teams are deeply committed to helping all studios deliver the best experience possible, providing open tools, documentation, and direct engineering support to make sure their games run well for everyone, including the tens of millions of players using Intel GPUs. We remain ready to assist Pearl Abyss however we can.

For details on the choice not to enable Intel support at launch, please reach out directly to Pearl Abyss.”