For Stellar Blade developer Shift Up, giving employees new PS5s seems to be a recurring thing 

During the “Shift Up Rise Up” inaugural ceremony at the JW Marriott Hotel Seoul on January 6, 2025, the South Korean game company surprised its 311 employees by giving each of them a monetary bonus of 5 million Won (roughly $3,433 USD) and a PlayStation 5 Pro to take home. In addition to the employee rewards, Shift Up shared its updated company vision, project-specific achievements, and future plans at the ceremony.  

Shift Up has had a very successful 2024. Goddess of Victory: Nikke had several in-game events and collaborations with franchises like Re:Zero and Neon Genesis Evangelion. The action RPG also celebrated its second anniversary, with the developers looking for ways to keep Nikke fresh in its third year.  

But arguably Shift Up’s biggest success of 2024 was its newest IP, Stellar Blade. With its captivating world and alluring characters, Stellar Blade sold over 1 million units in two months. It went on to be nominated in two categories (Best Score & Music and Best Action Game) at The Game Awards 2024. 

According to a Shift Up representative quoted by Korean news site Naver, the bonuses are given to provide encouragement to employees. While the successes of Goddess of Victory: Nikke and Stellar Blade are cause for celebration and reward, it seems Shift Up is also focused on incentivizing employees for upcoming projects. 

This isn’t the first time Shift Up has rewarded its employees with shiny new consoles. Back in September 2021 when Stellar Blade was first unveiled under the working title “Project Eve” at a PlayStation Showcase, Shift Up founder and CEO Kim Hyung Tae gave each of the studio’s then 260 employees a PS5. This was during the great PS5 shortage, when each console was priced around 628,000 Won (roughly $540 USD). 

While the PS5 Pro currently does not have any titles that a base PS5 cannot run, it is nice of Shift Up to provide its employees with Sony’s latest gaming console.  

Stellar Blade is currently available on PS5. A Windows version of the game is set to be released sometime in 2025.