After a long sustained period of hype, Crimson Desert is here. And it’s doing pretty well. The game has sold a couple million copies, enjoys a healthy concurrency on Steam, and continues to be debated back and forth on social media. Indeed, Crimson Desert has been a bit controversial to say the least. But, we’re not here to discuss that point today.
Today, we’re discussing Xbox. It is my beat after all, and after a brief vacation, I’m still absorbing the deluge of news coming out of GDC as pertains to Xbox’s forward-facing strategy.
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We’re aware some players are experiencing crashes when launching Crimson Desert from the Xbox app on PC. To fix this, open the Microsoft Store, go to Downloads, and check for updates. Or press Win + R and paste: ms-windows-store://pdp/?productid=9MWPM2CQNLHNMarch 21, 2026
Crimson Desert launched as a rare AAA Xbox Play Anywhere release. The ambitious open-world action adventure game joins a very very small list of major titles that adopt Xbox Play Anywhere without some form of marketing deal or Xbox Game Pass instalment. Indeed, Crimson Desert has a marketing deal with rival PlayStation, in fact, so for the game to support Microsoft’s nascent Xbox PC platform wholly voluntarily is a pretty big deal.
Usually, major developers like Capcom, and others often only support Xbox Play Anywhere as a result of some kind of deal with Xbox and PC Game Pass. Resident Evil Requiem for example, was irritatingly not included on Xbox Play Anywhere or on Xbox PC all up, despite previous Resident Evil games being part of the program. In any case, it should’ve been a moment to celebrate. Alas, t’was not to be.
Crimson Desert joins a list of games that simply didn’t work on Xbox PC out of the gate. Other games like Death Stranding also had notorious bugs and issues on their Xbox PC version, and went unpatched for years. Crimson Desert straight up refused to launch on Xbox PC, crashing out on boot. Fallout 4‘s Xbox Play Anywhere update also had similar issues initially, and Resident Evil Village as well when it hit Xbox Game Pass earlier in the year.
I tested Crimson Desert on my gaming PC this morning, and found that it does seem to be fixed if you’ve fully updated the game and the Xbox app. Most Twitter users seem to suggest it’s fixed too. But, this cannot keep happening if Xbox PC is to grow, and perhaps more importantly, if Xbox Helix is to go ahead with its Windows-Xbox merger.
Why this is a problem for Xbox Helix
The next Xbox is essentially a PC-console hybrid, that will leverage full Windows to fully open up the Xbox ecosystem to other stores, and decades of legacy content on Windows PC. This will naturally include Steam, Epic Games, external launchers like the Riot Client and Battle.net, among various others.
For Xbox console users, it remains to be seen exactly how Helix will bridge the gap. It’s confirmed to be able to run your Xbox console games, so everything you own from Xbox Series X|S and backwards will be compatible. But how will these games arrive on Helix?
I suspect that Helix will leverage Xbox’s Smart Delivery systems to deliver the “best” version for your device. Does that mean, then, that you’d receive a Crimson Desert PC package on your Xbox Helix, instead of the Xbox Series X version? And if so, does that mean Crimson Desert would’ve crashed on launch, alongside other games with similar issues?
The entire premise of a console revolves around ease of use. Consoles sport a heavily curated user experience, designed for pick-up-and-play sofa gaming — without the need for a mouse, keyboard, or a desk. If Xbox Helix can’t deliver that, we have a problem.
Microsoft launched the Xbox Ally handheld in partnership with ASUS and AMD last year, and it uses the Xbox PC store and Windows 11 as its main content delivery method. It works well for the most part, but there has been plenty of situations where it has asked me to reach for a mouse and keyboard. For a handheld, this is particularly irritating. But I suspect most people buying the Xbox Ally at this point know what they’re in for — the idiosyncrasies of Windows 11 on this type of device are pretty well documented. At the very least, releasing it “early” like they did will help Microsoft work through the Windows 11 “console-style” usability issues to prep for Xbox Helix.
Whether it’s using Windows 11-based devices with a controller, or the weird issues that seem to arise sometimes with content delivery on Xbox PC and the Microsoft PC store — millions of Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One owners are likely going to be considering upgrading to Xbox Helix. The Xbox Ally has sold hundreds of thousands of units to enthusiasts, many of whom have PC gaming experience already. But if the Xbox Helix is to sell millions to mass market users expecting a quick and easy console experience … the issues we’ve seen with Crimson Desert and others absolutely cannot be allowed to go live with Xbox Helix.
Poll: Should Xbox have exclusive games?
The debate over whether or not Xbox should have exclusive content has reignited since new CEO Asha Sharma took the reins. What do you think? Is it necessary for Xbox Helix to survive, or can hardware features and price do the heavy lifting?
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