Shift Up Takes Stellar Blade 2 Publishing In-House, Sony Steps Aside

Korean developer Shift Up has confirmed that Stellar Blade 2 will not be published by PlayStation, ending the deal that brought the first game to PS5 in April 2024. The studio announced the change in its latest earnings release, stating it will take on publishing duties itself for the sequel. The move points to a multiplatform launch.

As we reported last year, Shift Up first signalled the direction in November 2025, when a job posting on the studio's official website described Stellar Blade 2 as a multiplatform AAA project planned for consoles and PC. The listing stopped short of naming specific platforms beyond confirming the game would expand past PS5. The new earnings release does not name platforms either.

Shift Up framed the publishing shift as a way to keep the IP's identity intact across launches.

"Notably, starting with this next title, Shift Up will transition to a first-party service model. 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."

— Shift Up

The studio also pointed to three pillars it expects to lift the sequel above the first game: in-house publishing, a sales maximisation strategy, and an existing fanbase from the first release.

"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."

— Shift Up

The first Stellar Blade launched as a PS5 console exclusive in April 2024. A PC port followed in June 2025, roughly 14 months later, and was received positively by players who compared its swordplay to NieR: Automata and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Shift Up has not announced any further ports of the original, but the same earnings release said the studio is "actively exploring further platform expansion" for the first game. Switch 2 has been the most common fan request.

I see the publishing handoff as the clearest signal yet that Sony's exclusivity bench is shrinking, since the first Stellar Blade sold well enough on PS5 that there was no commercial reason to drop the deal unless other platforms were on the table for the sequel.

Sony's wider direction supports that reading. The publisher is reportedly pulling back from PC ports of its first-party catalogue, with insider Detective Seeds reporting that the Ghost of Yotei PC version was "extremely far along" with a 2026 target before being scrapped. The same source said a planned PC port of Saros, Housemarque's upcoming PS5 game, has also been cancelled. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is now expected to be the last major Sony single-player title to reach PC for the foreseeable future.

Against that backdrop, Shift Up's taking publishing in-house reads as a hedge against the same kind of contraction. Sony loses authority over where the sequel ships once it is no longer the publisher of record. I think the Switch 2 question becomes the more interesting one, since Shift Up has not ruled the platform out and Sony has no leverage to block it now.

No release window has been set for Stellar Blade 2. Shift Up said development is "progressing smoothly" and on track to hit the studio's targeted quality benchmarks.

Read also, Shift Up CEO Hyung-tae Kim said at South Korea's 2026 Economic Growth Strategy event that Korean studios cannot compete with U.S. and Chinese developers on output without adopting AI across production, citing the gap between his studio's 150-person team on Stellar Blade and the 1,000 to 2,000 staff Chinese studios assign to comparable projects. Minister of Culture Hwi-young Chae backed the position at the same briefing, with state financial support for AI initiatives planned from 2026.