Project Eve developer gave PS5 to all 260 staff members

Publication date of the original Japanese article: 2021-09-14 16:38 (JST)
Translated by. Ryuki Ishii

Shift Up, the Korean studio behind the action-adventure game Project Eve, gave a PS5 to each of its 260 staff members. (source: GameMeca)

The latest trailer for Project Eve was shown during the PlayStation Showcase 2021 on September 9, and it seems like the PS5 consoles were given to employees on that day.

In the released photos, we can see a large number of PS5 consoles being brought into Shift Up’s office and a floor with a PS5 on each of the staff’s chairs. The office floor looks empty, so perhaps the company brought in the consoles while no one was at work yet and gave them to the employees as a surprise gift. Kim Hyung Tae, the CEO of the studio also sent a special thank you email to employees, thanking them for their hard work.

Kim Hyung Tae handled the character designs for Magna Carta: Crimson Stigmata and DESTINY CHILD. He is currently directing Shift Up’s upcoming title Project Eve.

According to Shift Up, the company gave PS5s in response to the official announcement of the PS5 release of Project Eve, so that all the staff members can play the game when it comes out. That’s quite generous considering the price of PS5. In Korea, PS5 is sold for 628,000 won (approx. $540 USD). Getting 260 PS5s would cost over $130,000 USD.

As a side note, miHoYo, the developer of Genshin Impact, also drew some attention when they gave away a bunch of electronics including PS5 to their employees during the company’s annual employee meeting in February. PS5 is still in short supply around the world. Looking at the responses to Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad’s Tweets, you can see that some people are wondering how the company managed to get so many PS5s, or complaining that they can’t buy one yet while Shift Up somehow got hold of over 200 units.

Project Eve is an action-adventure game in which you fight to reclaim Earth from invaders called the NA:tives. Humanity has been expelled from Earth, and the protagonist Eve, a survivor of the paratrooper squad deployed from the Colony, must explore the desolated Earth and fight through powerful enemies.

In the latest trailer, you can see some of the game’s stylish sword fights in action. Eve will attack, defend, and evade the enemies while trying to get a better understanding of their attack patterns. It seems like the combat will require the players to find an opening and counterattack with precise timing.

Accumulating the skill gauge through successful parries and evasions will enable Eve to use skills such as armor piercing and powerful AoE attack. Successful parries and combos will also build up another gauge that can be used for skills such as jump thrust and buff-enabled attack.

The other highlight of the game is the beautiful visuals/character design of the heroin Eve, as you can normally expect from Kim Hyung Tae’s work. You can find numerous costumes in the game to change Eve’s appearance. The new trailer also shows a robot that seems to be a companion character following Eve around. I’m curious to see more details about the game, including the role of the robot.

Project Eve is currently in development for PS5. The game was originally announced for multiple platforms including PC, but the official website now only states that it is being developed for PS5. The fact that the game was unveiled at a PlayStation event and employees were given the hardware suggests that Shift Up prioritizes PS5 as the main platform.