Stellar Blade, Nikke, and a Presidential Commendation
Hyung tae Kim, the CEO of Korean game studio Shift Up and director of Stellar Blade, has received a Presidential Commendation from the government of South Korea. This award recognizes his major contributions to the country’s videogame industry, especially through two key titles: Goddess of Victory Nikke and Stellar Blade.
According to Korean outlet Daum, the commendation highlights how these games helped grow both the local development scene and the global visibility of Korean made games. Kim was quick to share the credit with his team and players, saying the award was thanks to the developers and fans who believed in and supported Shift Up. He also promised that the studio will keep working to boost the competitiveness of Korean games on the world stage.
For PC players, this moment is more than just an award. It shows how Korean developers are becoming a bigger force in mainstream PC gaming, not just on mobile or in niche genres.
From Mobile Roots to Global PC Success
Shift Up first broke out with Goddess of Victory Nikke, a 2022 action RPG that originally launched as a mobile title. The game later came to PC in 2023, though only through its own standalone launcher rather than platforms like Steam. Even so, it built a large and dedicated audience that helped establish Shift Up as a serious developer beyond its home market.
The real turning point for PC gamers came with Stellar Blade. This was Shift Up’s debut release on Steam and it immediately gained far more visibility among Western players. While the game drew plenty of attention for its fanservice and character design, underneath that surface was a solid action experience that resonated with fans of combat focused games.
By July 2025, Stellar Blade had sold more than three million copies across PC and PlayStation 5. Those numbers place it firmly among the more successful modern action titles and give Korean developers another flagship title alongside games like Lost Ark and other big name exports.
The Steam release was especially important for PC gaming. Unlike a proprietary launcher or a mobile store, Steam puts a game in front of millions of PC focused players, streamers, and modders. That exposure helped Stellar Blade quickly become a talking point in PC gaming circles, with mods, performance tweaks, and community discussion extending the game’s lifespan well beyond launch.
Boosting Confidence in Korean PC Game Development
The impact of Stellar Blade has gone beyond just sales figures. Former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida publicly credited the game with helping drive a growing sense of confidence among Korean creators. For years, Korean studios were best known for MMOs and mobile titles. Now they are moving more aggressively into premium single player and action first experiences that fit right into the core PC gaming space.
Stellar Blade showed that a Korean studio could deliver a visually flashy, mechanically satisfying action game that competes directly with Japanese and Western heavyweights. The Presidential Commendation is a sign that South Korea’s government also sees games as a strategic and cultural export, similar to K pop, film, and TV dramas.
For PC gamers, this momentum is good news. More confident studios usually means more ambitious projects, better PC ports, and a stronger focus on performance and features that matter to gaming rigs, such as higher frame rate options, graphics settings, and support for the latest GPUs and CPUs.
What Comes Next: A Sequel and Project Spirit
Shift Up is not done with Stellar Blade. The studio is already working on a sequel, and Hyung tae Kim has said that the team wants to address some of the original game’s shortcomings. One of his key criticisms of the first game is that its story was lacking. That means the sequel is likely to put a bigger emphasis on narrative and world building while hopefully keeping the responsive combat and flashy presentation that made the first game stand out.
A stronger storyline paired with refined gameplay could push the next Stellar Blade entry deeper into must play territory for action fans on PC. If the team also applies the lessons learned from the initial PC release, we can expect better optimization, more thorough settings, and enhanced support for high end hardware.
On top of the sequel, Shift Up is also working on a new project currently known as Project Spirit, which will be published by Tencent. Details are still scarce, but Tencent’s involvement suggests a large scale title that could target global PC audiences from day one. Given Shift Up’s track record, PC players can expect a visually polished game with a strong focus on action and presentation.
Both the Stellar Blade sequel and Project Spirit are worth watching if you care about the future of PC action games. Korean studios are moving beyond free to play and mobile first models into full scale premium experiences, and Shift Up is right at the front of that wave.
With a Presidential Commendation in hand, a successful multi platform hit, and multiple projects in development, Hyung tae Kim and Shift Up are likely to keep playing a bigger role in the PC gaming space. For PC enthusiasts, that means more choice, more competition, and more reasons to keep your hardware ready for the next round of flashy, high performance action games from Korea.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/stellar-blade-boss-receives-presidential-commendation-for-his-contributions-to-the-korean-videogame-industry/
