Shift Up reportedly could pay salaries for only about three more months at one point in Stellar Blade development · Digg

Shift Up reportedly could pay salaries for only about three more months at one point in Stellar Blade development

Kim Hyung Tae said investors believed Stellar Blade wouldn’t break even, according to a post sharing his comments. Some suggested they would value Shift Up more highly if it abandoned the game for another project.

4 Sources, 2d ago, first seen 2d ago

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A post recounting Kim Hyung Tae’s comments says Shift Up could at one point pay salaries for only about three more months while developing Stellar Blade. Kim said investors viewed the game as a risk, with some suggesting they would value the company more highly if it switched projects. He also recalled questioning whether making such a game in South Korea was the right decision. According to the account, SIE eventually offered a publishing deal and the game was completed. Kim credited players for its success.

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Shift Up came within roughly three months of being unable to cover salaries while developing Stellar Blade, according to CEO and game director Kim Hyung Tae.

Kim's account, reported by Automaton West, describes a project that struggled to attract backing before Sony became its publisher. He said investors viewed the game as too risky and expected it would not break even. Some, he recalled, suggested Shift Up would be valued more highly if it abandoned Stellar Blade and made something else.

The doubts were not only financial. Kim said he sometimes questioned whether attempting that kind of large-scale console game in South Korea was the right decision. The turning point came when an early prototype impressed Shuhei Yoshida, then president of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, who offered the company a publishing deal.

Sony's involvement allowed the team to finish the project, but Kim frames the outcome as uncertain rather than inevitable. He credits players with turning the finished game into a success.

The three-month figure is a retrospective statement from Shift Up's chief executive, not a newly released balance sheet. It nevertheless gives a concrete measure of how narrow the studio's runway became before the publishing agreement changed the project's prospects.

Shift Up reportedly could pay salaries for only about three more months at one point in Stellar Blade development

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Shift Up reportedly could pay salaries for only about three more months at one point in Stellar Blade development

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4 Sources