{"id":1261,"date":"2025-04-18T12:13:02","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T12:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scubadiscounters.com\/?p=1261"},"modified":"2025-04-21T02:53:44","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T02:53:44","slug":"stellar-blade-creator-is-one-of-the-richest-people-in-korea-as-1800-statue-sells-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.scubadiscounters.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/18\/stellar-blade-creator-is-one-of-the-richest-people-in-korea-as-1800-statue-sells-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Stellar Blade creator is one of the richest people in Korea as \u00a31,800 statue sells out"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"Stellar\t<\/div>
The statue sold out within hours (Shift Up\/JND Studios)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The director behind Stellar Blade has become one of the wealthiest people in Korea, but it\u2019s not for the reason you might think.<\/p>\n

Stellar Blade<\/a> is one of last year\u2019s best action games and for South Korean studio Shift Up, it was their breakthrough moment in the West.<\/p>\n

The action game sold over one million copies, following its launch on PlayStation 5<\/a> in April, and a PC version is set to be released in June 2025.<\/p>\n

Shift Up chairman and founder, Kim Hyung-tae, has subsequently become one of the richest people in Korea, but it isn\u2019t because of Stellar Blade.<\/p>\n

As reported by Forbes<\/a>, Kim Hyung-tae\u2019s net worth is $725 million (\u00a3546 million) as of April 14, 2025, which puts him at number 46 on Korea\u2019s rich list. <\/p>\n

The founder\u2019s net worth ballooned in July last year, when Shift Up became a public company and received an initial offering of $320 million (\u00a3241 million). This made Kim Hyung-tae a billionaire<\/a>, as the largest shareholder of the $3 billion company.<\/p>\n

Since then, Shift Up\u2019s shares have fallen more than a third and Kim\u2019s overall net worth has shrunk to $725 million, but it\u2019s still enough to make his debut on the rich list.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Statues\t<\/div>
You\u2019d have to be pretty rich to afford these (Shift Up\/JND Studios)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shift Up\u2019s biggest success is mobile title Goddess Of Victory: Nikke, which was released on Android and iOS in 2022 and PC a year later. According to the studio\u2019s financial report for 2024<\/a>, the free-to-play game accounted for 69.6% of the studio\u2019s total revenue, generating $105.4 million.<\/p>\n

This number was actually down 7% over the previous year, but the studio is planning to launch Goddess Of Victory: Nikke in China in 2025, so that will likely give it a major shot in the arm. In comparison, royalties from Stellar Blade amounted to $43.2 million in 2024.<\/p>\n

Shift Up has showcased its wealth through a new $2,400 (\u00a31,800) statue of Stellar Blade protagonist EVE. Created by JND Studios<\/a>, the statue weighs 8.4kg and has already sold out<\/a> after pre-orders went live on April 18.<\/p>\n

Along with EVE, there are separate statues of the equally improbably proportioned Tachy and Adam\u2019s drone. The bundle with all three statues costs a whopping $3,899 (\u00a32,935).<\/p>\n

Is there going to be a Stellar Blade 2?<\/h2>\n

Stellar Blade is set to launch on PC in June 2025, alongside a DLC crossover with Goddess Of Victory: Nikke. This comes after Stellar Blade\u2019s first major DLC, a collaboration with NieR: Automata<\/a>, which launched last year.<\/p>\n

Shift Up has already announced plans for a sequel<\/a> but nothing has been officially revealed, so it will likely be a few years away yet. That may well mean it ends up being a PlayStation 6 title.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Screenshot\t<\/div>
A sequel is coming (Sony Interactive Entertainment)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Email\u00a0gamecentral@metro.co.uk<\/a>, leave a comment below,\u00a0follow us on Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0sign-up to our newsletter<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

To submit Inbox letters and Reader\u2019s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our\u00a0Submit Stuff page here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more stories like this,\u00a0check our Gaming page<\/a>.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The statue sold out within hours (Shift Up\/JND Studios) The director behind Stellar Blade has become one of the wealthiest people in Korea, but it\u2019s not for the reason you might think. Stellar Blade is one of last year\u2019s best action games and for South Korean studio Shift Up, it was their breakthrough moment in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.scubadiscounters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.scubadiscounters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.scubadiscounters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.scubadiscounters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.scubadiscounters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1261"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.scubadiscounters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1266,"href":"http:\/\/www.scubadiscounters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions\/1266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.scubadiscounters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.scubadiscounters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.scubadiscounters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.scubadiscounters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}