Stellar Blade Dev Shift Up Goes Public, Makes a Huge Pile of Money | Push Square
South Korean developer Shift Up, responsible for PS5 exclusive Stellar Blade, has gone public, completing an initial public offering (IPO) worth some 435 billion won, or about $320 million. Founder and CEO, Hyung-Tae Kim remains the largest shareholder, with a stake worth an eye-watering $1.2 billion, with Chinese holding company Tencent moving into second place. The company itself has projected valuation of around $2.3 billion.
Bloomberg reports that it's the largest gaming IPO to come out of South Korea in more than two years since PUBG dev Krafton raised some $3.8 billion back in 2021 (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz). Along with Stellar Blade, Shift Up has been printing money through its successful mobile games, Goddess of Victory: Nikke and Destiny Child. The studio intends to double down on what it does best and will use the proceeds to grow its games portfolio.
Collabs, DLC, and sequel are «under review»
Are you surprised to see the swift, successful rise of Shift Up? What do you hope to see from the developer in future, a sequel to Stellar Blade or a new IP? Let us know in the comments section below.
Khayl Adam is Push Square's roving Australian correspondent, a reporter tasked with scouring the internet for the richest, most succulent PlayStation stories. With five years of experience as a freelance journalist and mercenary wordsmith, RPGs are his first great love, but strategy and tactics games are a close second, genres in which he is only too happy to specialize.
If they can land another hit I think they'll cement themselves as a young new contender as a studio
Deserved.
KT opening a new studio after the success of Ronin and SU making a lot of money for the CEO after Stellar Blade their first console game (and the exposition that comes with PS). Looks like the «Exclusives are only good for the publisher» argument only applies when there is bad management behind the games lol.
Now they answer to shareholders...this will end well.
@GamingFan4Lyf ahaha yeah
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