"They Thought We Were Crazy," SHIFT UP Challenged the Korean Market with Stellar Blade

The company was afraid, but they developed the project because it was "now or never."

"They Thought We Were Crazy," SHIFT UP Challenged the Korean Market with Stellar Blade

The company was afraid, but they developed the project because it was "now or never."

Today it's a fact that Stellar Blade is one of the most anticipated titles of the year. However, its creators perhaps never imagined that their project would generate so much buzz, especially because during development, many thought they were crazy to attempt such a project.

Developing high-budget or AAA games can be a double-edged sword, as there's no guarantee that the final product will please the audience and recoup its initial investment. Hence, developers often opt for safer bets, relying on different means such as post-launch support (games as a service), microtransactions, and so on.

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SHIFT UP Took a Risk to Make Stellar Blade

The case of SHIFT UP with Stellar Blade isn't different; in fact, SHIFT UP confessed that the risk of making this project was so high that people even thought they were crazy because nowadays "it's quite an unusual achievement to work on a AAA game in Korea."

"When I decided to create this game, many people thought we were crazy because in South Korea, mobile games dominate the market and the console market was almost nonexistent," expressed the creative in a PlayStation video about the development.

This concern is somewhat justified considering that SHIFT UP had only worked on 2 service games for mobile: Destiny Child and GODDESS OF VICTORY: NIKKE (which later received support for PC), besides not being very well-known in the West.

The development team at SHIFT UP was initially worried, but as the project progressed, they gained confidence, for their luck, because the company wanted to make a console game "now or never."

SHIFT UP Wants to Continue Working on Console Games

A few days ago, the creative also explained in an interview with RULIWEB (via Genki), that his acquaintances advised him to make games with a larger profit margin.

"But what our industry needs more than anything else is variety, right?" replied Hyung Tae.

Traditional single-player games that tell a story with a definite ending have significant value in themselves, according to the developer, and a market in which these diverse types of games coexist is healthier.

"That's why SHIFT UP will continue to accept the challenge of console games in the future," commented Hyung Tae. "We have a strong desire to create games that allow many players to enjoy them to the end and return to reality feeling good."

In case you missed it: Stellar Blade is just days away from becoming reality.

SHIFT UP decided to make a console game, something extremely rare in the Korean market dominated by mobile games
SHIFT UP decided to make a console game, something extremely rare in the Korean market dominated by mobile games

What do you think of SHIFT UP's statements? Tell us in the comments or on Discord.

Stellar Blade will debut on April 26, 2024, exclusively for PlayStation 5.

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