Today, South Korean game developer Shift Up announced that Stellar Blade has surpassed 3 million units globally across all platforms. Of these 3 million, 1 million units were sold on PC in just three days on the market. The studio also remarked on the record we mentioned in our previous report (Stellar Blade is now the Sony-published single player game with the highest concurrent user peak on Steam) as well as the strong praise from Steam users, who have left 15.6K reviews of which 94% are positive.
In related news, Shift Up CEO Kim Hyung-tae relayed some interesting statements in an interview with Korean publication This Is Game. The executive talked about Stellar Blade 2, stating that he hopes the sequel could launch in 2027, although it's not at all certain at the moment.
Yes, that's right. As we were preparing the DLC, the volume grew more than expected, so we changed direction and proceeded with the next work. However, there have been many changes since then. Currently, all manpower has been invested in the PC version, so it's hard to say that the next work has been developed much. Right now, we're in the R&D period, thinking a lot about 'how we can show the vision of the next generation.'
To be honest, we've been fully committed to releasing the PC version following the PS version, so now is the time to do proper R&D. It would be great if it came out in 2027, but there are only three years left, so I can only say that we'll do our best. However, I can guarantee that we'll present a great work.
Indeed, it sounds like a very ambitious goal considering that the game only launched in April 2024 for PlayStation 5. Triple-A games usually take four or more years to be made, so a 2027 launch for the sequel would be very surprising.
In the interview, Kim Hyung-Tae also explained why the narrative was the weakest part of Stellar Blade, and how they're planning to fix that for the sequel:
In the early stages of development, we planned to include detailed settings such as the reason the main character changes clothes in the story. However, as production progressed, the cost of producing cutscenes became too much, and eventually, for the sake of efficiency, we had no choice but to reduce cutscenes that supplemented the world view or character narratives outside of the main plot. That's how we were barely able to complete the game. It's also because the development manpower pool or system for narrative-centered games has not yet been fully established in Korea.
It is true that there were some shortcomings in the narrative in that regard, and if we hastily supplement this part in Stella Blader now, it may clash with the story that users have accepted so far, so we are cautious. However, if we are given the opportunity to create the next work, I think we will be able to present it with a sufficiently rich narrative.
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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