Stellar Blade Dev is reportedly set to spin off from Sony

Star Blade developer Shift Up could be considering a move towards independence from Sony. Star Blade became one of the biggest PlayStation releases of 2024, selling over a million copies in just two months since its launch on the platform. Players were fascinated by its unique sci-fi world where they stepped into the shoes of Eve and fought to reclaim the post-apocalyptic Earth from alien creatures known as Naytiba.

However, Star Bladethe journey did not end there. Shift Up finally delivered Star Blade on PC, where it again proved to be a massive hit, selling over a million copies within days. This made the game one of the most successful PlayStation exclusives ever to arrive on PC at the time. After its strong performance, reports suggested that Shift Up is now exploring plans to expand it beyond PS5 and PC to a wider audience. Fans believed that the developer was trying to move away from the PlayStation umbrella, and now it seems that the move could finally unfold.

Stellar Blade has reached an impressive sales milestone

The creators of Stellar Blade reveal that the popular action-adventure game recently hit an incredible sales milestone.

The developer of Stellar Blade could soon go independent

Shift Up has reportedly revealed new plans, as spotted by GameMeca, that will help the studio expand its position as a full-fledged game publisher. The studio says it is preparing for a big push in the international market and aims to expand its self-publishing capabilities to better support its console and PC games. To support this transition, the company is actively hiring for a number of new positions in areas such as marketing, PR and localization. With these moves, Shift Up appears to be preparing to move beyond Sony's publishing support, which handled the release Star Blade.

Currently, Shift Up is working on Star Blade a sequel that was first revealed in May 2025. The developer has yet to reveal any details about the game or what players can expect in terms of story, characters and features. However, Shift Up's recent earnings report confirmed that the development of the project is progressing in a well-structured manner, and it is evaluating plans that will soon reveal more details. The game's expected launch window is before 2027, and as things stand, the title still doesn't have an official publisher attached.

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If Shift Up is looking to expand its position as a self-publisher, there's a chance the studio will decide to handle publishing duties for Star Blade the sequel itself. Gamers believe that this could be a positive move for the company, as the spin-off would allow Shift Up to launch its upcoming titles on Xbox, PC, PlayStation and Nintendo simultaneously, without any delays or third-party influence. When companies like Sony fund a project, they also tend to claim some of the revenue and can influence certain publishing options. Independence would allow Shift Up to have better control over profit margins and, most importantly, full control over the future of its IP.

Recent reports have also suggested that Sony's approach to first-party game ports on PC may change, with claims that the company could scale back this strategy and return to console exclusives. Sony is reportedly unsure of the overall success of the PC versions and believes they fell short of expectations. In that case, many gamers feel it would make sense for Shift Up to take control of their publishing efforts and distribute their games across platforms without facing any challenges or restrictions from Sony.