In a remarkable achievement, the CEO of Stellar Blade’s developer, Shift Up, has been honored with the Presidential Commendation at the Korean Content Awards. This prestigious event, hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, recognizes outstanding contributions to the industry. Hyung-tae Kim, the award recipient, has played a pivotal role in advancing the Korean gaming landscape with titles like Goddess of Victory: Nikke and Stellar Blade.
Achievements and Milestones
Reports suggest that Stellar Blade, launched in April 2024 exclusively on PlayStation 5, sold over 1 million copies within two months, showcasing the potential for Korean-made triple-A console games. The company’s financial success was further highlighted in July when Shift Up raised approximately $320 million in its first day of trade after an IPO. This marked the largest such event for a gaming company in Korea since Krafton Inc.’s IPO in 2021. Such a successful year allowed the company to gift all employees with a PlayStation 5 Pro and a cash bonus of around $3,400 last Christmas.
PC Release Success
Meanwhile, the PC launch of Stellar Blade in June was met with overwhelming success. The game sold over 1 million copies in just three days, earning a 98% recommendation rate and an “overwhelmingly positive” user score on Steam. Shift Up claimed that Stellar Blade is now the “best-selling PlayStation-exclusive launch IP in history” on PC, surpassing titles like Ghost of Tsushima and God of War in peak concurrent users on Steam. Despite this achievement, Helldivers 2 maintains the lead in both single and multiplayer games, with an estimated 12.7 million copies sold.
Stellar Blade continues to thrive, with 3 million copies sold across all platforms and a sequel, Stellar Blade 2, in development. Additionally, Shift Up is working on a new project, Project Spirits, set to be published by Level Infinite.