Shift UP CEO Hyung-Tae Kim has spoken concerning the troubles confronted throughout Stellar Blade‘s growth, together with doubts from traders concerning the recreation’s capability to interrupt even, and quickly depleting funds to pay employees with.
Speaking to Korean gaming outlet Inven (translated into English with Google Translate), Kim mentioned: “Through the growth of Stellar Blade there was a time when the corporate was in a scenario the place it may solely pay salaries for about three months.”
Kim went on to clarify that Shift Up visited numerous traders to safe monetary help for Stellar Blade’s growth, solely to be instructed it was too dangerous. Many requested why they had been making the sport when “it was apparent it will not break even”, and Kim claimed he was instructed that in the event that they pursued a special mission the corporate could be valued extra.
Kim had his personal doubts on the time, apparently.”There have been occasions once I questioned whether or not it was actually proper to make a recreation like this in Korea,” he mentioned. “Nevertheless, we someway managed to develop it to the top, and it was the customers’ selections that proved the trail we had chosen was not incorrect.”
Fortunately for Kim and Shift Up, Stellar Blade proved fairly the success. Whereas precise console figures are unknown, it sold millions of copies on PS5 and later was a record-breaking launch on PC, breaking 1m sales within three days. Shift Up is currently working on the sequel Stellar Blade: Blood Rain, which has but to obtain a launch date.
It is a good story, particularly given the broader context of South Korea’s rising presence within the triple-A growth area in recent times. One other Korean developer that additionally discovered large success lately was Pearl Abyss, with Crimson Desert, which sold exceptionally well as properly.