Stellar Blade's Developer Shift Up Form Publishing Agreement With PlayStation

Shift Up, the studio behind the upcoming action-adventure game Stellar Blade has announced that they’ve entered a publishing agreement with PlayStation, becoming the first Korean-based studio to join PlayStation’s second-party partners.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Understandable a publishing agreement imo is fair

[Obscure_Observer]

"Understandable a publishing agreement imo is fair"

Oh yes... Of course it´s "fair" when its Sony the ones stealing multi platform games from Xbox gamers.

Gotta love the f* hypocrisy. Smdh.

[Athlon101]

"Previously, Stellar Blade, known as Project Eve at the time of its announcement, was scheduled to come out on Xbox and PlayStation. However, it seemed the project ran into funding issues, facing possible cancellation entirely. This led to PlayStation assisting the studio, and when Project Eve resurfaced as Stellar Blade, it was revealed that the Xbox version had been canceled."

How is Sony stealing when it's funding the studio and project? I don't see MS funding Bethseda or Activion prior to acquisition.

[CrashMania]

Gotta love the false equivalence comparisons. Smdh.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

So did the games xbox get faced cancelations without them?
You need to chill and reevaluate. Business is cruel Microsoft, Nintendo, or Sony ain't your friends they're competing for your money.
It is just Sony is doing things that Sega, or Nintendo would've done tbh.

[Vengeance1138]

I think you made a pretty big typo there kid, as Xbox is the one removing every multiplat they can find from PlayStation.

[Crows90]

Its absolutely fair....no hypocrisy...you should be singing their praises...you love this kinda shit.

[Redemption-64]

You level of ignorance is amazing

[jambola]

It's business
You can't steal what someone doesn't own

[Obscure_Observer]

@Athlon101

"However, it seemed the project ran into funding issues, facing possible cancellation entirely. This led to PlayStation assisting the studio, and when Project Eve resurfaced as Stellar Blade, it was revealed that the Xbox version had been canceled."

Where´s your *official* source for that? This is nothing but some made up lying bs! Shift Up never ran into funding issues during Stellar Blade´s development. They´re a big a$$ korean studio made of hundreds of developers and partially owned by no other than Tencent!

Sony straight up PAID Shift Up to cancel both Xbox One and Xbox Series versions of that game making it exclusive to Playstation, so yeah, the STOLE IT from Xbox gamers!

So again, bring your official source! I´ll be waiting.

[Hofstaderman]

Hey Obscure the ratio of of Ps5 to Series consoles is 93 to 7 in France currently. We'll see you in that inevitable article comment section, right?

[Godmars290]

When Sony's working with a studio to further develop new titles vs MS waiting till one with a popular IP is having money troubles, yeah, its fair.

If not then its a more competent method of working with studios.

[Pyrofire95]

"Stealing" The game almost got cancelled cause it didn't have funding.

[Bathyj]

Settle down.
They're helping with a new game from a small developer. Not buying a publisher with a stable if6 Devs and looking decades of IP to their platform.

You want hypocrisy?
Look in the mirror.

[Chevalier]

Talk about hypocrisy. Starfield was supposed to be on Playstation. No complaints.

No different than
Contraband
Indiana Jones
Hellblade 2
Outerworlds 2
Etc.

It is what it is. 🤷 But you're an idiotic hypocrite so not surprised at all coming from you.

[Elda]

MS buying 2 major multi-plat video game developers & publishers are pulling future games from Playstation.

[ApocalypseShadow]

You mean the Robinhood like company(Sony) that helps the poor(indie developers) and denies the rich(Microsoft 2 TRILLION worth) who buys up publishers who were making multi platform games and franchises for decades and took them away? And from getting this game that they don't deserve and didn't help in any way?

Correct me if I'm wrong but it is Sony that is helping smaller developers worldwide from the China hero project, the soon India hero project and is helping this Korean based studio make games. Doing this actually helps Sony in expanding to other cultures. By helping the next generation of developers. Microsoft haven't don't shit.

Microsoft only offers what they think the world wants which is Western content and English only. Tells us oh obscure, what games have Microsoft helped or developed for the Japanese gamers all these years? That tells you right there that Microsoft doesn't care and doesn't offer the gaming industry shit.

[kayoss]

@obscure observer
Let me guess, you didn’t do your research before you spout your non sense. Shift Up is not a big corporations. They have about 200 employee. Their annual revenue is ~$24 million dollars. They rely on funding for their project, this included stellar blade. How do you think they get those fundings? From investors. If that funding runs out, they have to cancel the game or find funding from somewhere else. Shift Up is not like Xbox, where they have Microsoft to bail them out. Shift up annual

[BlaqMagiq1]

"Sony straight up PAID Shift Up to cancel both Xbox One and Xbox Series versions of that game making it exclusive to Playstation, so yeah, the STOLE IT from Xbox gamers!"

You got a source for that? Or are you talking out of your ass?

[Obscure_Observer]

I knew the moment Sony striped Xbox from any game you all would be ok with this.

None of you could bring a single official source to back up your lame and shameless claims! I dare any one of you to bring *proof* that Shift Up was facing money problems!

That´s a f* lie! If you all don´t have proof don´t bother and reply back to me with your lame and bs damage control.

Sony paid Shift Up to cancel and keep Stellar Blade from Xbox gamers. It is what is.

So F* all of your bs excuses to cover Sony´s a$$ on all this!

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

Do you know the difference between buying up WHOLE publishers and second party agreements genius? And you have the nerve..the shear audacity to cry hypocrisy?? You can't be serious...

You already got CoD (which is on a downward spiral and a shell of what it used to be), and Starfield (a fallout/Elder Scrolls reskin).

Be quiet and go sit in the dum dum corner and actually use some brain cells before you think of speaking again. I know it's a challenge for you but you need to try.

[LastAvenger]

Developer versus Publisher

[Charlieboy333]

Obscure thinks it's unfair for Sony to publish a game that they supported financially and saved from cancellation.

Yet he believes it's perfectly fair for microsoft to BUY two massive actual PUBLISHERS ( with a huge list of IP and games they had no hand in creating ).

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the broken logic of a brain damaged Xtwat on full dislay.

[Charlieboy333]

@Obscure crying for proof. They use term 'second-party' right there in the article summary dumbass. That literally means "developed by a third party studio, but FUNDED and published by a first party company". I know you are thick so let me put it this way.....THE GAME IS GETTING MADE WITH SONY'S MONEY.

[Elda]

The article states that the company needed funding & Sony stepped up to the plate. Where's your 100% actual factual proof that Sony stole the game from XB. Hypocrite much.

[Nacho_Z]

It says in the article that Sony stepped in to help them financially in order to avoid the game being cancelled. You can take issue with that if you really have to but to call people liars for reading and quoting something from a site with a solid reputation is bang out of order.

[RaiderNation]

Dude, do you spend your every waking moment in here defending Xbox? Maybe if they provided some games you'd actually like to play, you wouldnt have time to be lurking in every single thread trying to convince people they don't suck as badly as they do. Just face reality, your platform of choice is trash! Live with it.

[GamingSinceForever]

If the game fails commercially/critically you will be the first in line to thank Sony for keeping this trash away from XBOX.

If this game is a success you will be first in line
calling Sony crooks and their fans ponies.

This is why you aren’t taken seriously.

[ThePacemaker]

2027 🤡

[repsahj]

sad obscure. XD

[gold_drake]

wat?

im pretty sure that sony helped them fund the game. or in some way.
if xbox doesnt see value in projects, thats on xbox and not on sony.

[S2Killinit]

@Obscure
Oh my god you have no sense of objectivity huh?

At least read the article.

[Obscure_Observer]

@gold_drake

"im pretty sure that sony helped them fund the game. or in some way.
if xbox doesnt see value in projects, thats on xbox and not on sony."

Since when Sony "see value in projects"??? Sony won´t funding even PS5 EXCLUSIVE third party games M.I.A on Playstation.

Whatever happened to Agent, WILD, Deep Down, Abandoned, KOTOR: Remake just to name a few?

Sony made a partnership with Shift Up for *marketing and global distribution* for Stellar Blade on Playstation. This is no different than they did with No Man´s Sky back in the day on PS4.

The difference here, is that Sony straight up PAID Shift Up to keep Stellar Blade from release on Xbox and PC!

In NO moment Shift Up ran into money issues or saw their game on the verge of cancellation!

"However, it seemed the project ran into funding issues, facing possible cancellation entirely. This led to PlayStation assisting the studio, and when Project Eve resurfaced as Stellar Blade, it was revealed that the Xbox version had been canceled."

This is some fabricated lying bs from mp1st.com trying to cover Sony´s a$$, since you won´t find and validate their "information" anywhere! Again, I dare any of you to try and bring actual proof from the developers that they´d ran into money issues needing Sony to "save" their game!

Here´s the original source:

https://www.gamechosun.co.k...

In no moment it was mentioned the game was facing money issues or cancellation.

Nikke was a massive success and that studio has Tencent as one of its owners!

So yeah, Stellar Blade is just another third party game which Sony paid to keep from Xbox gamers, just like FFVII Remake,FFXVI, KOTOR: Remake, Silent Hill 2: Remake and Rise of Ronin.

Bottom line: Playstation takes games from Xbox gamers, Xbox will do the same in reaction.

Just keep that in mind next time you complain about Xbox stripping PS5 gamers from previously multi platform games. Sony has been doing it for years and they´ll continue to do it.

Just don´t go out crying when Xbox react to this, because you reap what you sow.

[ironmonkey]

Aww so sad

[mkis007]

If this bugs you maybe you shouldn't be cheering so loudly when MS did worse with acquiring Bethesda and Activision. Maybe think of how you would have responded if Sony had acquired Acti and Bethesda.

[Plague-Doctor27]

@obscure

Sony paid for marketing rights in 2021

Tencent didnt acquire a stake in shift up until late 2022

We may not know their exact financial situation but the deal with sony was made way before they had tencent's backing

[Barlos]

I agree. Sony should be more like Microsoft and just acquire small publishers like Zenimax and ABK shouldn't they?

[shinoff2183]

Making a game exclusive through an agreement is completely different then buying 2 major publishers. 2 publishers who's games also sold way way better on the competitions system. That Korean developer >s still free to develop freely. Idk write ms and ask them to throw some cash at them

Athlon101, nice I never knew that info. Well that explains how this happened. So did xbox players expect Sony to help fund for the Xbox version as well

[CobraKai]

It’s funny how fanboys call out fanboys

@Athlon
It’s similar to what Nintendo did with Bayonetta. They funded the project and it became exclusive.

[recoctimocassirnff]

You are absolutely infuriating, Obscure, but it's also really telling how obvious you are outing yourself.

Everyone here has clearly spelt out why this isn't the same as buying up large publishers. Any one with a working brain and a basic understanding of how project management works, understands this, yet after numerous times people spelling out the difference to you, you still, with extreme unintelligence, cry hypocrisy.

But, that's not even the worst of your behavior.

MS has, HAS literally spent billions of dollars to block 3rd party games that were already funded, already planned to release on the ps5, from coming to that platform. And yet you have the absolute, the ABSOLUTE GALL to cry that sony is blocking games coming to xbox, when not only is that not the case, but you have been actively praising ms FOR MONTHS like a smitten little teenage girl for doing the exact same thing your crying about in this article.

It would be actually less infuriating if you were just being a troll and lying about everything you say, but from the way you type, I believe you actually don't see a hint of your gargantuan hypocrisy.

[TheTony316]

The biggest Xbox fanboy on this site who constantly praises MS for major publisher acquisitions is calling others hypocrites. Oh the irony.

[darthv72]

I think that's how Insomniac started. Being third party but having Sony publish their work under the second party agreement. If things go well with this developer, they could end up like Insomniac in being part of the first party family.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Ofc

[shammgod]

Glad Sony stepped in here. This game looks stellar and one of my most anticipated

[EnViiDisnuCCa]

It looks garbage sorry to disappoint you

[CobraKai]

He said it looks stellar. Youre the one that’s disappointed.

[HyperCrush365]

Sony will cut the booty.

[Einhander1972]

This company also makes Goddess Of Victory: Nikke, so that's probably coming to PS5 as well.

[kpgs]

That'd be great.

[Godmars290]

Still waiting for Genshin 3rd Impact to come to consoles.

And I'm still waiting...

[Einhander1972]

I think you mean Honkai Impact 3rd, that's Mihoyo they're a Chinese company.

I don't know a lot about that game but I have played Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail, they have a new game coming too Zenless Zone Zero, looks pretty good. It hasn't been announced for PlayStation yet, but given the success of Genshin and Star Rail on PlayStation it seems likely it'll be on PS5 after it's full release.

[Stanjara]

ZZZ let's go!

[Godmars290]

@Einhander1972:
So, aside from telling me I got companies/studios wrong all this time, I'll be waiting longer than thought.

Which was already waiting well past the heat/death of the universe...

[Einhander1972]

Sorry?

I hope they put the game you want on the service.

[Vits]

I don't think Sony would allow that. Though the potential with the DS haptics is there....

[Pepsi_Man3000]

Actually I think they recently said they've no plans for a ps5 port of that game

[Zenzuu]

Good stuff. Looking forward to playing this on my PS5. Game looks decent.

[Pyrofire95]

I'm sorry to see that the Xbox version has been canned because of this but I'm pretty happy that Sony stepped up to fund the game so that it wouldn't get cancelled. I'm very much looking forward to this game.
But seriously I don't have an Xbox but let them have a couple of games champ.

[zaanan]

“But seriously I don't have an Xbox but let them have a couple of games champ.”
I don’t think Sony is in any hurry to fund games on their competitor’s platform, especially when said competitor is actively paying $70 billion+ just to keep games off of Sony’s platform.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

Weird coming from a company that just got scammed by a multiplatform studio.

[Games1st]

It will be truly next-gen.

[DFresh]

I'm really looking forward to this game.
:D

[Exvalos]

Sony saved the project, while Microsoft takes away ip's to try and force us to buy Xbox, these are 2 very different things. Xbox practices predatory tactics, using its money as a weapon. While Sony is out here actually for the gamer. One company still has passion for games and Microsoft just cares about gamepass numbers.

[itsmebryan]

@Exvalos

Did you miss the part where they said they canceled the Xbox version after Sony stepped in? So, Sony did exacty what you vilified Xbox for doing. Did you read the article?

[Chevalier]

They couldn't afford to make the game so you think a studio like that can take on multiple versions of the game? Kind of idiotic if you think about your dumb logic. Because they would have to finance not 1 version, but, 3. They would have stretch thin to make a Series X version then also be hamstrung along doing a Series S too. Do you guys actually think about that before you guys mention your idiotic ideas? Lol

Plus if Playstation is stepping in then why should they fund an Xbox version?! Because last I checked Xbox hasn't ever done that now have they?

[shinoff2183]

It's sounds like the studio was having finicial issues. Why would Sony come in and help them create for sonys competition

[Exvalos]

Why would Sony in there right mind pay for the competitions version of the game? That would be like Nintendo paying to develop Bayonetta for Microsoft and sony.

[recoctimocassirnff]

The level of critical thinking skills of the average xbox fan is just something to behold.

Did you miss the part where you yourself typed that this game would not have existed if not for sony? Ergo, they did spend money to block an existing game from coming to xbox, they paid money to create this game. Ergo, sony didn't take anything away from ms...

[Ryuk_2007]

Woke Sony is definitely going to censor the hell out of this game lol

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

Let's us know what they censor on Xbox Series.

[shinoff2183]

What on ps has been censored that xbox let roll

[Dixiedevil]

https://youtu.be/_5tRcB46Pf...

[VersusDMC]

Well at least this means the game isn't vaporware that will never come out. Sony wouldn't get into a publishing agreement if the game development was going horribly.

Give me a game awards trailer.

[repsahj]

So excited and very looking forward to playing this game on my PS5! Good thing Sony didn't let them cancel the game completely.

[gold_drake]

niiice, looking forward to it. the trailers looked amazing.

[Barlos]

Somehow this news makes Obscure mad. Got to love the hypocrisy 🤣

[purple101]

Damn that looks good. Would like to see more gameplay

[koga88]

Now we just have to hope that Shift Up won't have to delay their upcoming games further to "update" them to Sony's new "standards of decency."

[FlavorLav01]

And yet the most violent Wolverine game we’ve ever gotten is on its way from Insomniac…somehow I think we Sony fans will manage.

[koga88]

You mean the "most violent" game we have only seen one forty-five second teaser of? Plus if they call it "darker" than Spider-Man it isn't exactly pushing the envelope considering the Spider-Man 2 only had a few slightly dark moments compared to your usual game.

Don't get me wrong, if they pull a Dead Island 2 or Dead Space with the amount of gore Wolverine can turn people into it'd be amazing, but let's not put the cart before the horse here.

[HyperCrush365]

Say goodbye to the sexiness.