Will gen AI be part of Stellar Blade 2‘s development? It doesn’t sound entirely outside the realm of possibility after recent comments from developer Shift Up’s CEO. The South Korean game studio is currently working on a sequel to the 2024 sci-fi action game and its boss thinks AI is the only way to compete with the massive development teams coming out of China.
“We devote around 150 people to a single game, but China puts in between 1,000 to 2,000,” Hyung-tae Kim, who also served as director on Stellar Blade, said during a recent conference briefing according to GameMeca (translated via Automaton). “We lack the capacity to compete, both in terms of quality and volume of content.”
The remarks were part of the Shift Up CEO’s address during the “2026 Economic Growth Strategy” conference held on January 9. South Korea’s president, Lee Jae Myung, was in attendance. Kim went on to suggest that generative AI and LLM tools will be important for evening out the playing field.
He argued that with AI, “one person can perform the work of 100 people.” Will this lead to mass layoffs? Not according to the Shift Up CEO. That’s because global competition will require countries to still utilize every possible worker. Sounds fun!
Was Kim actually worried about rising competition from China, or was he just flexing his geopolitical muscle as Stellar Blade‘s popularity catapults Shift Up into the big time? After all, that game sold millions of copies across console and PC without the help of AI, even as Tencent, Net Ease, and other major Chinese publishers flood the market with AAA free-to-play games.
For now at least, Shift Up employees are being well taken care of. Seoul Economic Daily recently reported that all 300 employees at the studio were given AirPods Max, Apple Watches, and a bonus $3,400 to celebrate the company’s profitable 2025. Why no video game consoles? It already gifted PS5 Pros and Switch 2s last year.
Shift Up is currently aiming to release Stellar Blade 2 before the end of 2027. Hopefully it’s not relying on gen AI to do it.
