South Korean Stellar Blade developer Shift Up has finalized its IPO (initial public offering), which turned out to be highly successful. As reported by Bloomberg, Shift Up raised $320 million (435 billion won, the local currency), the largest amount a gaming firm gathered during an IPO in almost three years. Back then, Krafton (maker of PUBG) raised $3.8 billion in its IPO. It's also the largest IPO in South Korea across all sectors since HD Hyundai Marine Solution in May.
Lee Jieun, analyst at Daishin Securities Co., reckoned there would be 'ample space' for the stock to rise following the IPO. He was right: Shift Up ended the day with a market capitalization of around $3 billion, which is roughly similar to KOEI TECMO from Japan. KOEI TECMO, however, is a company with roots that date back to many decades ago, having released many notable franchises like Atelier, Dead or Alive, Dynasty Warriors, Fatal Frame, Monster Rancher, Ninja Gaiden, Nioh, Nobunaga's Ambition, One Piece: Pirate Warriors, Rise of the Ronin, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, among others.
Shift Up, on the other hand, was founded only in 2013 (by Hyung-Tae Kim, who hit the drum during the company's listing ceremony and remains the largest shareholder) and is mainly known for two franchises: Goddess of Victory: Nikke, available on mobile devices and PC, and Stellar Blade, which launched in April for PlayStation 5. The game quickly gained favorable critic reviews and commercial results, having sold one million units in a couple of months.
Shift Up is already looking into a PC port of Stellar Blade and a sequel. Additionally, they have been hiring for a new AAA urban sci-fi action RPG project made with Epic's Unreal Engine. Inevitably, though, this game will take a few years to materialize on the market.
In a way, Shift Up's meteoric rise in market capitalization brings back to mind CD Projekt RED, which at one point was the largest video game company in Europe by market cap with $8.1 billion, on the heels of The Witcher trilogy and the third installment in particular.
The Polish company then experienced a fall from grace with the problematic launch of Cyberpunk 2077 on consoles, but the following updates and Phantom Liberty expansion have largely restored its reputation. Currently, its market cap is $3.34 billion, a bit higher than Shift Up's.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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