Shift Up to Self-Publish Next Stellar Blade, Raising Questions About PS5 Exclusivity
- Sagar Mankar
- 25 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Shift Up has confirmed it will self-publish the next Stellar Blade game, moving away from Sony Interactive Entertainment as its publisher and targeting a broad global launch from day one.
The announcement came through the company's Q1 2026 earnings report, released on May 11, 2026.
The original Stellar Blade was published by Sony and launched in April 2024 as a PlayStation 5 exclusive. It later received a PC port in June 2025, roughly 14 months after its console debut.
In the Q&A section of its earnings presentation, the company confirmed that "development of the next Stellar Blade title is progressing smoothly, on track to meet our targeted quality standards." More notably, it revealed a shift in how it plans to bring the game to market.
"Notably, starting with this next title, Shift Up will transition to a first-party service model," the company said. "This will allow us to lead marketing strategies that fully reflect the distinctive identity of the Stellar Blade IP, and we expect to communicate the unique appeal of its universe to players more directly and effectively."
The phrase "first-party service model" appears to be Shift Up's way of describing self-publishing. By taking publishing duties in-house, the studio gains direct control over marketing, release timing, and platform decisions.
While Shift Up did not explicitly name Xbox Series X/S or Nintendo Switch 2 as target platforms, the company did make its broader ambitions clear. "Building on the strong fandom and evergreen IP status established by the first Stellar Blade, we are formulating an optimal go-to-market strategy designed to maximize sales and reach a broad global audience from day one," it said.
That line alone suggests the company is not looking at a staggered, platform-exclusive rollout like its predecessor had. The goal, it seems, is a simultaneous multi-platform launch.
"With three key tailwinds, high-quality self-publishing capabilities, a sales maximization strategy, and a proven IP fanbase, we are confident the next title will deliver meaningfully improved results compared to its predecessor," the report noted.
On top of the sequel news, the company also mentioned it is "actively exploring further platform expansion" for the original Stellar Blade. A Nintendo Switch 2 port was reported back in June 2025 following the game's strong performance on Steam, though nothing has been officially confirmed on that front.
The earnings report also sheds light on Shift Up's overall financial health. Here is a quick look at the company's Q1 2026 performance, as per the report:
Operating Revenue: 47.3 billion KRW, up 12% year-over-year but down 26.6% quarter-over-quarter
Goddess of Victory: NIKKE revenue: 32.7 billion KRW, up 1.2% year-over-year
Stellar Blade revenue: 12.9 billion KRW, up 84% year-over-year
Operating Profit: 21.5 billion KRW, with an operating margin of 45.5%
Net Profit: 37.8 billion KRW, up 40.8% year-over-year
EBITDA: 24.3 billion KRW at a 51.5% margin
The quarterly dip in revenue is largely expected, given that Q2 2025 was the quarter Stellar Blade launched on PC and pulled in exceptional numbers.
Beyond Stellar Blade, the report also highlighted Shift Up's recently announced partnership with UNBOUND, a studio of roughly 60 developers with experience building globally recognized IPs. According to the report, this deal is structured as an acq-hire, and titles coming from UNBOUND will also follow the first-party service model. Multiple projects are currently in development there, spanning both high-end and mid-scale titles.
The company's next flagship title, Project Spirits, was also briefly addressed. It is described as progressing well, with more details expected to be revealed sometime within 2026.