‘Black Desert Online’ Offers Free Copies for Finishing Trial Challenge

By Stefanie Fogel

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Pearl Abyss’ massively multiplayer online role-playing game “Black Desert Online” is celebrating a milestone — it recently reached 10 million registered players worldwide. To celebrate, it’s offering free copies of the game to players who complete its 7-day trial challenge.

People who start playing between Oct. 3 and Oct. 17, reach level 56 on a character, and complete that character’s awakening quest before their trial expires will get a free Starters Package. That package includes the base game and 10 guest passes. It normally costs $10 USD.

The promotion is not available on Steam.

Besides the free game promotion, players can currently save up to 50% on rare in-game items sold by the NPC Patrigio and they can take part in the Kamasylvian Alchemists event, the latest installment of the game’s yearly alchemist challenge.

“” first launched on PC in Korea in 2015. It debuted in the U.S. and Europe the follower year and is now available in 12 languages in over 150 countries.

The MMORPG boasts “the most fully developed character customization system of any game that is currently on the market.” It’s also notable for its combat system. Unlike most MMORPGs, which use auto-attacking, “Black Desert Online” is action based and requires manual aiming. It recently got a major graphics and audio upgrade called “Black Desert Online Remastered.” Player numbers reportedly surged after the patch went live in August, up over 103% compared to the week before launch. New players were also up 24% in North America and Europe.

“Black Desert Online’s” next big update is the Drieghan Expansion, promises 300 new quests and a new dragon world boss. That launches on Nov. 14.

Mobile and console versions of the game are scheduled to launch globally sometime in 2018.