Shift Up CEO reveals Stellar Blade development nearly led to bankruptcy

Shift Up CEO Hyung-Tae Kim revealed that the development of the action-adventure game ‘Stellar Blade’ brought the company to the brink of financial collapse. During production, the studio faced severe skepticism from investors who viewed the project as too risky and unlikely to recoup its costs. At one point, the company’s financial reserves were so depleted that they only had enough funds to cover approximately three months of employee salaries.

Kim noted that some investors suggested the studio pursue different projects that would have yielded a higher company valuation. Despite these pressures and personal doubts regarding the viability of developing such a title in South Korea, the studio completed the project.

‘Stellar Blade’ has since become a significant commercial success. While exact console sales figures have not been disclosed, the PlayStation 5 version has sold millions of copies. The game’s subsequent PC release also achieved record-breaking results, surpassing one million sales within just three days. The studio is currently working on a sequel.