The PC release of Stellar Blade has proven exceptionally popular, with developer Shift Up revealing impressive sales earlier this week in its latest financial report. But it’s not only a huge win for the studio and publisher Sony, it’s also exemplary of a booming games industry in South Korea seeking global expansion.
As announced by Shift Up, the PC version of Stellar Blade sold a million copies in its first three days on Steam, and now boasts over 3m sales on PC and console combined. Further, its peak concurrent player count on Steam sits at almost 200k – as per Shift Up’s latest financial report, that’s 2-5x higher than Sony’s other flagship triple-A games (Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, Spider-Man, to name three), making it the best-ever PC performance for a PS-exclusive IP launch. These are single-player games only, not including the multiplayer and multi-platform success of Helldivers 2.
“Following the PS5 success of Stellar Blade as a triple-A IP, Shift Up leveraged its unique strengths in optimisation, user experience, content enhancements, and market specific marketing to continue its success in the PC market – becoming a developer with proven hits across mobile, PC, and console,” wrote the studio in its report. And that success is set to continue throughout the rest of the year.
The popularity of Stellar Blade parallels an explosion of Korean culture in general. K-pop bands are global phenomenons; K-dramas and reality shows are all over Netflix; Korean films are winning Oscars; and Sony Pictures Animation’s KPop Demon Hunters film is the thing that’s dominating everything right now. And it’s happening in games, too.
Just this week alone there’s been plenty of news about Korean games. On top of those Stellar Blade sales, there was the announcement of Woochi the Wayfarer from publisher Nexon, a single-player triple-A action game based on Korean mythology that’s set for release on PC and consoles. With its basis in Korean culture, it could follow the sort of nationalistic success Black Myth: Wukong received in China.
Then, along with those Stellar Blade figures, there’s Krafton’s Sims-like Inzoi heading to PS5, as well as the delay of Pearl Abyss’ open-world adventure Crimson Desert that will now be released early next year “due to longer than expected timelines arising from schedule coordination and collaborations with multiple partners for offline distribution, voice-overs, console certification, and other launch preparations”, according to the company’s latest financial report (thanks Gematsu).
This all follows the likes of Soulslike Lies of P celebrating the release of its DLC earlier this summer; Nexon debating what indie means with its popular Dave the Diver game, as well as courting plagiarism concerns with its Destiny-esque shooter The First Descendent; and PUBG developer Krafton acquiring Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks to boost its action game output, while more recently defending itself amid a Subnautica 2 lawsuit fiasco.
In short, the Korean games industry appears to be thriving. Of course, the country has long had a history with games, but it’s previously focused predominantly on mobile games and online games, not to mention its exceptional esports scene. Now, though, we’re seeing a shift towards PC and console gaming, and single-player games too. Pearl Abyss following its MMORPG Black Desert with the single-player Crimson Desert is just one example.
Lies of P director Choi Ji-won told Eurogamer back at the Game Developer Conference the studio’s “primary focus from the concept of this game was to deliver a high quality, premium action game that is single-player,” though he admitted he’d be open to a Nightreign-esque multiplayer game in future.
“In the future, instead of pegging us into a certain genre, we want the fans to look at us and actually know what sort of unique components that we deliver that they look forward to,” he added. “So they see our next work as a sort of projection of our trust and characters that we are building moving forward.”
Speaking on the wider industry, Choi Ji-won said: “There are many talented and remarkable developers in Korea, and we are grateful for the opportunity that in, especially the action game [genre], our game perhaps provided a little more motivation to the already talented developers in Korea to craft their own experience in the genre.”
Why is it that action games in particular are proving popular? “I think action in general is very intuitive, it’s primal,” Choi Ji-won suggested. “It’s pretty natural that the action genre is big and there are many games actually in it. Also East Asia has a long tradition of action related materials, so because of that I think it comes very naturally.”
Now, the Korean industry is looking to go global. Speaking to Game Informer (via Game Developer), Round8 Studio CEO Jason Park said there are a “fixed number of people” playing single-player games on console and PC in South Korea, a number that “won’t change”. That’s why Lies of P was made with a global market in mind.
Shift Up CEO Kim Hyung-tae said only five percent of Stellar Blade’s PS5 sales came from Korea, and console share isn’t growing – that’s why the PC release was so important. He added that mobile games are designed around monetisation so appeal to an older demographic. “That’s continued for the past 20 years, and players have become older, so it’s harder to acquire new and younger users,” he said.
Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad echoed these comments to Eurogamer. “The Korean video game market remained flat in 2024 with narrowed growth prospects,” he said. “This has led Korean video game companies, who have typically excelled at developing live service MMORPGs at home, to explore new geographies, genres and business models including premium single player games for the global market.”
What’s more, Ahmad explained, the Korean government has doubled its investment from 2024 into domestic console game development, now allocated 15.5 billion won. “The success of titles such as Stellar Blade and Lies of P show this strategy is delivering results for Shift Up and Neowiz, respectively,” he said.
“While the goal is primarily growth outside of Korea, the industry is also looking to fill gaps at home with titles in genres that can challenge the dominance of long standing MMO, MOBA and shooter games in the country. Korean video game companies have also stepped up investment efforts in global studios and developing markets, with the aim of building a publishing portfolio with global appeal.”
Growth in Korea mirrors a similar surge in China, where the success of Black Myth: Wukong has paved the way for other action-RPGs, from Phantom Blade Zero, to Lost Soul Aside, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, and Tides of Annihilation. Developers here have similarly moved from mobile to PC and console development, seeking global appeal. Phantom Blade Zero director “Soulframe” Liang described this shift to Eurogamer as akin to the “golden age of PlayStation 1 and 2”.
Shift Up will follow up the success of Stellar Blade with a sequel, set to address issues with the lack of story in the first game. Its next original game, currently known as Project Spirit, is in development for a release some time from 2027 onwards. Whether it can match Stellar Blade’s success with increased competition from other Korean developers remains to be seen.
