South Korean company Shift UP went through many challenges to develop Stellar Blade, one of the country’s few AAA titles. In a recent interview with INVEN, CEO Hyung-Tae Kim reminisced about a time when the company could only afford to pay three months’ worth of employee salaries, as well as his previous doubts about the project.
Kim reveals that during development, Shift Up approached several investors and major game publishers with Stellar Blade only to be turned down. He says investors were convinced the game wouldn’t break even, and viewed it as a risk rather than an asset for the company. Some even suggested that if Shift Up were to abandon Stellar Blade and work on a different project, they would value the company more highly.
According to him, “While we were developing Stellar Blade, there was a time when the company was in a situation where we could only pay salaries for about three months.” Considering Stellar Blade was teased back in 2019 under the working title “Project Eve,” this is possibly before Shift Up would reap the rewards of titles such as Goddess of Victory: NIKKE (which released on mobile devices in 2022 and subsequently became a hit in Japan).
Kim admits that he lacked confidence in Stellar Blade at the time, as he recalled moments when he wondered if making such a game in South Korea was the right decision. Regardless of his doubts, he and his team continued working on the project and were even able to impress former President of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida with an early prototype (so much so that he offered the company a Sony publishing deal).
Stellar Blade’s development was completed, with Kim attributing its success to the players. He said that while Shift UP won’t be able to “do everything perfectly” and will “certainly make mistakes,” the company will do its best to create games (including Stellar Blade’s Switch 2 version and future titles) so that it can repay the support it has received. The company is currently working on Stellar Blade: Blood Rain (a sequel), as well as an all-new cross-platform IP codenamed “Project Spirits.”
Stellar Blade is available on PlayStation 5 and Windows (Steam). A Switch 2 version is set to release on November 5, 2026.
