Shift Up, Developer of Stellar Blade, Announces Plans for Initial Public Offering

Shift Up, the studio behind the upcoming game Stellar Blade, has taken steps to become a publicly traded company by filing for an initial public offering on the Korea Stock Exchange. According to reports, the filing, which was submitted on March 5, includes plans to issue over 58 million shares, with 7.25 million of those shares being made available for purchase during the initial public offering at a price of ₩200 ($0.15) per share. The company's financial records show sales of ₩66 billion ($50 million), although it has reported a net loss of ₩7.13 billion ($5.4 million) for a certain period. Prior to the release of Stellar Blade, Shift Up's valuation stood at around ₩2 trillion ($1.53 billion), but this figure could potentially rise to ₩3 trillion ($2.3 billion) following the game's launch. The initial public offering is being led by a consortium of investment banks, including Korea Investment & Securities, NH Investment & Securities, and JP Morgan Securities. Founded in 2013 by Kim Hung Tae and Kyung Rip Min, Shift Up has been backed by Tencent since December 2022, when the Chinese conglomerate acquired a 20% stake in the studio. Stellar Blade, which is scheduled for release on April 26, 2024, exclusively for the PlayStation 5, has been showcased on several occasions, including during a Sony State of Play event in September 2022 and a more recent PlayStation showcase.