[Report] Even on Weekday Afternoons, 50 Waiting in Line... The Excitement of Experiencing "Red Desert" Powered by AMD

'Red Desert X AMD Pop-up Store 2025' On-site
First Floor as an Interactive Festival: Stamp Tour, Quiz, and Roulette in Full Swing
Second Floor as a Game Experience Zone: Uniting the Fandom Ahead of Launch

A monitor set up on the first floor at the 'Red Desert X AMD Pop-up Store 2025' held at DRC Hongdae. The marketing slogan promoting the AMD Ryzen processor series reads "Legends Never Fall." Photo by Park Yujin

Upon entering DRC, a multi-purpose cultural space in Hongdae, visitors are greeted by AMD's slogan "Legends Never Fall" and soft ambient lighting. As you climb the stairs, metal structures and concrete walls line the way, while the sound of battle from Pearl Abyss's game "Red Desert" echoes from the speakers. Although five months remain until the official release, this is the site of the official offline event "Red Desert X AMD Pop-up Store 2025," which aims to unite the fandom and reinforce the image of technological collaboration with semiconductor company AMD. This space offers fans the opportunity to experience the technical prowess of Red Desert firsthand well ahead of its launch date, which is set for March 20 next year.

Exterior of the 'Red Desert X AMD Pop-up Store 2025' held at DRC Hongdae. Photo by Park Yujin

Jointly hosted by Pearl Abyss and AMD, the "Red Desert X AMD Pop-up Store 2025" opened on October 30 and will run for three days until November 1. Organized at AMD's suggestion, this event allows visitors to experience the next-generation open-world action-adventure "Red Desert" on AMD Ryzen and Radeon-based PCs. To this end, 13 demo computers were set up in the experience zone on the second floor. Of these, seven were operated as "50-Minute Full-time Zones," accessible only to those with reservations, while the remaining six were available for short demo play and rotated frequently. When the reporter visited in the afternoon on a weekday, there were already 50 people waiting for the full-time zone.

Visitors enjoying the game "Red Desert" at the experience zone on the 2nd floor of the "Red Desert X AMD Pop-up Store 2025" held at DRC Hongdae. Photo by Park Yujin

Visitors were able to experience "Red Desert" on PCs powered by AMD Radeon graphics cards and Ryzen processors. Even during scenes featuring a large number of enemies on screen, the gameplay remained smooth without any drop in frame rate. The graphics, displayed on a Samsung Odyssey G7 monitor with 4K UHD and 144Hz, provided an immersive experience reminiscent of battle scenes in a movie.

Pearl Abyss applied its self-developed "BlackSpace Engine" to Red Desert for the first time as the successor to the "Black Desert Engine." Thanks to this proprietary engine, Pearl Abyss secured greater control over the game's look and feel as well as technical aspects, while AMD provided optimized hardware configurations. This collaboration is the first outcome of the AMD-Pearl Abyss global partnership officially announced in September.

One participant who tried the game commented, "I was able to enjoy a wide variety of content, from massive battles reminiscent of real-life battlefields to missions that highlight interactive elements and a realistic open world. The optimization work between AMD and Pearl Abyss seems to have been executed very well."

Visitors enjoying the game "Red Desert" at the experiential zone on the 2nd floor of the "Red Desert X AMD Pop-up Store 2025" held at DRC Hongdae. Photo by Park Yujin

The pop-up store went beyond being a simple game demo space, becoming a testbed for collaborative marketing between hardware and content. AMD highlighted its technological image by displaying a CPU market share graph (48% in 2020 to 65% in 2025) on the wall, while Pearl Abyss filled the space with weapons, symbols, and cosplay elements identical to those found in the game.

The first floor served as an interactive event zone curated by AMD and Pearl Abyss. At the entrance, a "Stamp Tour" guideboard welcomed visitors. By collecting stamps at each station-AMD X Lenovo AI Experience, Hammer Challenge, Dart Event, and Quiz Zone-visitors could receive goods such as hooded zip-ups, blankets, magnetic sets, and backpacks.

Visitors at the 'Red Desert X AMD Pop-up Store 2025' held at DRC Hongdae are browsing the goods prepared on site. Photo by Park Yujin

In the SNS event zone, visitors who posted a proof photo could receive Red Desert-themed face painting in celebration of Halloween, and the adjacent roulette zone also offered a variety of goods. An event official explained, "We designed the event so visitors could experience the world of Red Desert with all five senses."

Kyoung Kangho, Head of PR at Pearl Abyss, stated, "We wanted visitors to experience the vast open world realized through our proprietary engine," adding, "We plan to expand customer engagement through a variety of on-site events."