[Edaily Reporter An Yu-ri ] Domestic game companies PearlAbyss Corp.(263750)and KRAFTON(259960)both won awards at the world-renowned “Golden Joystick Awards 2026.” PearlAbyss Corp.’s “Crimson Desert Enhanced” won PC Game of the Year, while “Subnautica 2” from KRAFTON’s Unknown Worlds was named Best Early Access Game, demonstrating their presence in the global market.

According to the gaming industry on the 12th, PearlAbyss Corp.’s “Crimson Desert Enhanced” won “PC Game of the Year” at “The Golden Joystick Awards 2026,” held in London, UK. “Subnautica 2,” developed by KRAFTON’s creative studio Unknown Worlds, was also selected as the winner in the “Best Early Access Game” category.

Now in its 44th year, the Golden Joystick Awards is a global gaming awards ceremony that began in 1983. Winners are selected based on a public vote in which gamers from around the world participate directly. This win is significant in that it demonstrates that Korean game companies have been recognized by global users for their game quality and competitiveness.

PearlAbyss Corp.’s “Red Desert Enhanced” competed against major global titles to be named PC Game of the Year. This achievement follows its previous wins: the Technology Innovation Award at the “Develop Star Awards,” hosted by the UK Game Developers Conference, and the Best International Game Award at the “China Game Innovation Awards 2026.”

*Red Desert Enhanced* expanded its content on October 30 with the release of its first downloadable content (DLC), “Journey into the Unknown.” It scored 83 on Metacritic, a global game review aggregation site. The game is currently available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Steam, the Epic Games Store, and Mac.

KRAFTON’s “Subnautica 2” has garnered acclaim for its development approach of evolving the game in collaboration with players. Notably, Unknown Worlds, which won the Golden Joystick Award for PC Game of the Year in 2018 for its predecessor “Subnautica,” has successfully secured the award again with this sequel.

Subnautica 2 is an open-world survival and crafting game set on an unknown alien ocean planet. It is the first title in the series to introduce a co-op mode for up to four players. Since its Early Access release on May 15, it has sold 2 million copies within 12 hours and reached cumulative sales of 5 million copies in 22 days.

Unknown Worlds employs an “open development” approach that incorporates user feedback into the development process. Based on user feedback, the team added cooperative play features such as local voice chat and a revive system, and plans to release a major content update later this year that will include new exploration areas and marine life.

Anthony Gayegos, Creative Director of Subnautica 2, stated, “This award is especially meaningful because it is an achievement we share with the players who have helped build Subnautica 2 together,” adding, “I am deeply grateful to the community for their consistent support from before launch until now. The feedback we’ve received during Early Access has been a great help in development, and we will continue to use it to create an even better game.”

Jang Tae-seok, Head of Global Publishing at KRAFTON, remarked, “We believe the strong support from the community, built through Unknown Worlds’ open development philosophy, led to this high vote count.” He continued, “KRAFTON plans to continue investing in the sustained growth of the Subnautica franchise to meet the community’s expectations.”