Shift UP CEO Hyung-Tae Kim has spoken about the troubles faced during Stellar Blade‘s development, including doubts from investors about the game’s ability to break even, and rapidly depleting funds to pay staff with.
Speaking to Korean gaming outlet Inven (translated into English with Google Translate), Kim said: “During the development of Stellar Blade there was a time when the company was in a situation where it could only pay salaries for about three months.”
Kim went on to explain that Shift Up visited various investors to secure financial support for Stellar Blade’s development, only to be told it was too risky. Many asked why they were making the game when “it was obvious it would not break even”, and Kim claimed he was told that if they pursued a different project the company would be valued more.
Kim had his own doubts at the time, apparently.”There were times when I questioned whether it was truly right to make a game like this in Korea,” he said. “However, we somehow managed to develop it to the end, and it was the users’ choices that proved the path we had chosen was not wrong.”
Thankfully for Kim and Shift Up, Stellar Blade proved quite the success. While exact console figures are unknown, it sold millions of copies on PS5 and later was a record-breaking release on PC, breaking 1m sales within three days. Shift Up is currently working on the sequel Stellar Blade: Blood Rain, which has yet to receive a release date.
It’s a nice story, especially given the wider context of South Korea’s rising presence in the triple-A development space in recent years. Another Korean developer that also found big success recently was Pearl Abyss, with Crimson Desert, which sold exceptionally well as well.
