A day after Pearl Abyss' earnings call for the third quarter of 2024, the South Korean game company merged the six Black Desert Mobile servers down to three. The company did give players two weeks notice, so the news wouldn't have caught vigilant investment companies by surprise.
The three servers being merged into the others were known as Oasis servers. In Black Desert Mobile, Oasis servers were special game servers introduced by Pearl Abyss in April 2024. These servers offered opportunities for both new and returning players compared to players on the regular servers. Here are some key features of Oasis servers:
Leveling Up Quickly: Players could level up five times faster compared to regular servers.
100% Black Pearl Refund: Returning players got a full refund of their Black Pearls, which could be used to purchase in-game items.
Quality-of-Life Improvements: Updates like Shadow Gear upgrades and new crafting recipes were available.
Community Events: Various events, giveaways, and special title events were held to engage players.
Given the servers only lasted six months before their announced merge into regular servers, I assume the idea a failure.
At one point Black Desert Mobile was the main driver of revenue for the Black Desert franchise. In the third quarter of 2019 BDM brought in 57% of Pearl Abyss' overall revenue, or approximately ₩76 billion ($63.6 million). In the last quarter five years later, mobile gaming only brought in 21%, or ₩15.6 billion ($21.2 million) of the company's gaming revenue. And unlike in 2019, last quarter mobile gaming revenue was split between BDM and EVE: Echoes, although the vast majority was probably generated by BDM.
Between the long decline of Black Desert Mobile and the failure to upgrade Black Desert Online for next generation consoles, Pearly Abyss is close to falling below the ₩75 billion recorded in company revenue for Q4 2017, the first month of the operation of BDM.
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