Whenever a developer goes out to do something new, people are surprised. Some support them, others don’t, but once the development starts, it usually results in a brand-new game. Shift Up, the developer of the upcoming PlayStation 5 action game Stellar Blade, went through such situations too. They were previously discouraged from working on this game by a bunch of people.
Stellar Blade is a unique third-person action game that takes inspiration from games like Devil May Cry, Sekiro, and Nier. Its hack-and-slash combat and incredible visuals are already attracting the attention of fans looking for a pure action game on PS5. But its director explains how many people tried to stop him from making the game.
The director reveals they were being discouraged from developing Stellar Blade!
South Korea has gradually grown into a viable gaming market. Developers tend to keep them in mind while developing their games. But there’s a common conception that people over there only like playing on their mobile phones.
That’s where Shift Up was apparently going against the tide. This developer decided that they would be developing a game called Stellar Blade. This game would have a bunch of things: an awesome-looking character, beautiful world design, fun combat, and a great story. The only thing this game would be missing is an online mode.
Even further, they decided to partner with Sony to exclusively launch this game for the PlayStation 5. This is where the complications started; people started suggesting that they were making a mistake. The fact that they were even thinking of making a game for a console was unacceptable for many.
PC gaming is massive in Korea and console gaming is not that big there so I love the risks that Stellar Blade is trying to take! #StellarBlade
“When I initially decided to create this game, many people thought we were out of our minds. Because, in South Korea, mobile gaming… pic.twitter.com/GwXTArskFO
— Genki✨ (@Genki_JPN) April 13, 2024
It made sense too; as mentioned above, South Korea is a major market for mobile games or online PC games. Not so much for big-budget console games. This is why many decided to discourage them from doing so and even steer them in a different direction.
The game’s director, Kim Hyung Tae, remembers everything. He remembers how people thought they were out of their minds, but still, they persevered and pushed through the difficulties. As is evident, the end results are nothing to scoff about; in fact, Stellar Blade is a glorious game.
“When I initially decided to create this game, many people thought we were out of our minds. Because, in South Korea, mobile gaming dominates the market and the console market was nearly non-existent.”
All they need now is for this game to win big when it comes to sales. That’s the only thing that would shut those naysayers up. Going by the response they are getting, it looks like this game would be an incredible success, without a doubt.
It goes without saying that the biggest point of attraction for this game was none other than its protagonist, Eve. They have designed her to look incredibly good. They did this because the director himself suggested that he was more interested in controlling good-looking characters in his games. Thanks to his guts to stand by his design, all the people opposing this design are losing their steam.
There are many big games coming out of South Korea lately
While Stellar Blade is definitely looking all set to win big when it launches, fans must remember that last year, developers called Neowiz Games and Round8 Studio released their soulslike game Lies of P for major consoles and PC.
A third-person action game called Gungrave G.O.R.E. was also launched last year. Finally, a small title called Little Devil Inside would eventually launch on all major platforms in the future. Hence, single-player console games made in South Korea are slowly becoming more common with each passing day.
