Pearl Abyss's new title, 'Crimson Desert,' has been found to have ranked 2nd in cumulative sales among all games released in the U.S. market this year.

According to the 2026 U.S. video game sales rankings released in May by the U.S. market research firm Circana, Crimson Desert recorded 2nd place in annual cumulative sales as of May 2. It also ranked 3rd in sales volume for the month of April. Estimated sales data for April 2026 ©Circana This compilation is significant in that it is the first report in which Circana has introduced a new tracking method. Starting this month, Circana has begun incorporating Digital Sales Projections from publishers who do not disclose data, in addition to existing physical sales and Digital Point of Sale Actuals shared by some publishers. This measure addresses criticism that the charts did not fully reflect market conditions because some major publishers did not disclose their digital sales figures. In effect, the actual performance of titles with a high proportion of digital sales is now reflected more accurately in the charts. Matt Piscatella, Head of Games at Circana, explained in an interview with Kotaku, "The new approach can more accurately show the relative performance of traditional publishers who do not participate in digital data sharing." However, he added, "Since it is an estimate, there is a margin of error," and "the most accurate reporting method is for all publishers to share actual digital sales data." Circana is a leading U.S. consumer behavior analytics firm launched in 2023 following the 2022 merger of the NPD Group, founded in 1966, and IRI. In the video game sector, it has tracked sales data in the U.S. and Canadian markets for over 25 years since its days as NPD, and its monthly game sales rankings serve as a key indicator for gauging U.S. game market trends. Crimson Desert is a new IP released by Pearl Abyss on March 20, and it surpassed 5 million cumulative global sales within just 26 days of its launch. According to Pearl Abyss's first-quarter earnings report, North America and Europe accounted for over 80% of Crimson Desert's sales regions. This Circana tally is significant as it marks the first instance where external data supports the fact that a Korean game company has secured a top-tier position with a new AAA IP in North America, the home turf of the console and PC package markets.