Crimson Desert blocks spoilers by locking down the RPG's physical copies that shipped early, but some players worry it's a "slippery slope" for game preservation

Kliff rides on horseback downhill in Crimson Desert towards a town, through lush greenery — (Image credit: Pearl Abyss)

Open-world RPG Crimson Desert is finally on the horizon, launching on March 19 after several delays and trailers that looked almost too good to be true, but the game's getting around pre-release spoilers in a rather controversial way.

As is common with pretty much any major release nowadays, physical copies of Crimson Desert have been delivered to some players a full week before the game officially breaks containment. But unlike other such cases, Crimson Desert's disc is literally unplayable until the RPG's release date.

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A word of caution: Crimson Desert's physical release seems to be screwed. There is a video that shows you can't start until you update. Makes you wonder why we also saw a message from a PLAION BENELUX rep claiming there is a fully playable build on disc.https://t.co/jtE5DMVj2jMarch 12, 2026

Crimson Desert is the first game to lock down early disc copies, more publishers need to do this to prevent leaks, especially @RockstarGames Well done @CrimsonDesert_, hopefully this becomes a norm. pic.twitter.com/45P1zyZGbXMarch 13, 2026

Locking a physical copy behind both a mandatory update and a timer that presumably needs an internet connection to verify has raised the eyebrows of players worried about game preservation for many of the same reasons that people dunk on the Nintendo Switch 2's game-key cards.

Essentially, people who are in favor of the move are generally happy that they won't accidentally stumble upon spoilers before Crimson Desert's street date. Others are concerned about what this means for the game's future if, say, the PS5 storefront goes down or if a player's internet connection gives out.

"It's an offline single-player game, if it was an offline timer you could change date/time for it to unlock," one players writes on social media, "idk man this is a slippery slope."

"It's a coaster in 20 years. Absolutely not. These physical games deserve to be preserved and passed down," another says.

"This looks absolutely terrible for media preservation. Let the leak gates open, I'd rather leave the internet for a few weeks than being locked behind an online wall," a third writes.

Console and PC players trade hope and despair while they await Crimson Desert, as first PS5 Pro footage looks promising but Steam suddenly warns of Denuvo DRM.