Stellar Blade developer Shift Up to go public at projected valuation of $2.3 billion

[Gamernyc78]

Stellar Blade developer Shift Up to go public at projected valuation of $2.3 billion | Game World Observer

Although the investment climate in the games industry remains turbulent, a new large public offering is on the way. South Korean developer Shift Up recently applied to be listed on the Korea Stock Exchange.

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Stellar Blade developer Shift Up to go public at projected valuation of $2.3 billion​

Although the investment climate in the games industry remains turbulent, a new large public offering is on the way. South Korean developer Shift Up recently applied to be listed on the Korea Stock Exchange.

Stellar Blade

Shift Up filed an application on March 5, planning to list over 58 million shares on the Korea Stock Exchange. The number of shares scheduled for sale during the upcoming public offering is 7.25 million, with a par value of ₩200 ($0.15) per share.

The IPO will be led by Korea Investment & Securities, NH Investment & Securities, and JP Morgan Securities’ Seoul branch.

Image: Shift Up’s profile on the Korea Stock Exchange website (text translated via Google Translate)
As reported by GameLook, Shift Up’s valuation approached ₩2 trillion ($1.5 billion) in October 2023. Around the same time, WeMade Entertainment sold 2 million shares it owned in the studio to Tencent’s subsidiary Aceville for $53.9 million.

Korean analysts currently expect Shift Up to reach a valuation of ₩3 trillion ($2.3 billion) after going public. The main reasons are the continued success of Goddess of Victory: Nikke and the upcoming launch of Stellar Blade. According to industry experts, the company could also become a target for investors from Saudi Arabia.
Founded in 2013, Shift Up is a South Korean developer, which first came to the light with the launch of mobile battler Destiny Child. In November 2022, the studio released Goddess of Victory: Nikke, a gacha-based action title with oversexualized female characters. It has surpassed $600 million in player spending on mobile, with Japan, the US, and South Korea being the top three countries by revenue.

Shift Up co-founder CEO Kim Hyung-tae remains the largest shareholder, owning 45% of the studio’s shares. Chinese tech giant Tencent also invested twice in the studio, currently holding a 24% stake in the company.

Stellar Blade, a third-person hack and slash game made in partnership with Sony Interactive Entertainment, is expected to be released for PlayStation 5 on April 26, 2024.

 

[Gamernyc78]

Buy some shares Sony!

 

[TigerFang]

Do yall think sony would buy some shares, I believe they want to invest in South Korea in terms of gaming.

And they're also trying help Samsung phones with cameras I believe, by moving a portion of production to South Korea.

 

[ethomaz]

Right move for the health of the studio.

 

[Neversummer]

Buy some shares Sony!

Surprise Tencent has nearly 25% stake I didn’t even knew they invested in shift up.

At a value of 2.5 billion I don’t see Sony outright buying them like many suggest. They have potential likely worth investing but buying them for 2.5 billion not sure how big NIKKE is. There worth half of Square Enix & 3-4 time less then Hoyoverse

 

[Petekilla]

Fucking Tencent has to get invoked in everything in the industry.

 

[Petekilla]

Surprise Tencent has nearly 25% stake I didn’t even knew they invested in shift up.

At a value of 2.5 billion I don’t see Sony outright buying them like many suggest. They have potential likely worth investing but buying them for 2.5 billion not sure how big NIKKE is. There worth half of Square Enix & 3-4 time less then Hoyoverse

I didn’t know they were that big.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Pretty surprised they are valued that highly, but I forget they have mobile experience which probably factors into it.

Sony've already announced a strategic partnership with Shift-Up; if that doesn't involve buying some sizable amount of shares (especially with how good Stellar Blade looks like it's turning out to be), that'll be a supremely idiotic blunder.

 

[Yurinka]

Hey, the game looks promising but coming out of nothing I think $2.3B is highly overvaluated.

Nikke making $600M is great stuff, but regulations are going to kill gatcha mechanics and I don't think woke westeners wouldn't accept this waifuness levels, so I don't seet it scalable in the long term at least for the west.

Do we have any info about how successful was their other game, Destiny Child? In their website I only found that Destiny Child was top 2 in the Korean App Store at launch, not a big deal.

I think that such high valuation, Tencent having a 24% and boobies will prevent Sony from acquiring them. And this is ignoring that Sony is taking a pause from acquisitions to first pay the previous ones and improve their profitability before continuing acquiring.

With a valuation of $2.3B, even to get a 10% stake would cost $230M. I'd fund an internal AAA game instead with this, because starting it now, in a decade that investment will have generated way more profit than 10% of the Shift Up shares.

 

[ethomaz]

Hey, the game looks promising but coming out of nothing I think $2.3B is highly overvaluated.

Nikke making $600M is great stuff, but regulations are going to kill gatcha mechanics and I don't think woke westeners wouldn't accept this waifuness levels, so I don't seet it scalable in the long term at least for the west.

Do we have any info about how successful was their other game, Destiny Child? In their website I only found that Destiny Child was top 2 in the Korean App Store at launch, not a big deal.

I think that such high valuation, Tencent having a 25% and boobies will prevent Sony from acquiring them. And this is ignoring that Sony is taking a pause from acquisitions to first pay the previous ones and improve their profitability before continuing acquiring.

That is what they believe they will reach going public with the increase in share after that.

Actual value of the company is around $500 million.

Well in 2022 they sold 20% of the shares to Tecent at $60 million.

 

[Yurinka]

That is what they believe they will reach going public with the increase in share after that.

Actual value of the company is around $500 million.

Well in 2022 they sold 20% of the shares to Tecent at $60 million.

Ah ok, I see. A $500 million valuation makes total sense.

That $60M investment from Tencent was smart, specially when no other big player there was there.

In that case I could see Sony getting some small stake, I think getting something like $50M (10%) without mentioning in the press to avoid attacks from the woke people would make sense.

 

[Gods&Monsters]

Sony lost their chance once again after From, Atlus and Arrowhead. They are so bad at this it's embarrassing. Penny-pinching fucks

 

[Gediminas]

Sony don't give a fuck about Playstation, at least that's how it looks like. Or just that CEO and WW studios's head are shit.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Insane price.

 

[Muddasar]

Sony lost their chance once again after From, Atlus and Arrowhead. They are so bad at this it's embarrassing. Penny-pinching fucks

Tencent invested in them long ago.

No way are they worth 2.3 billion.

Makes Bungie look like a bargain at 2.4 billion.

 

[flaccidsnake]

I wouldn't bet the farm on this game or this team. How are they worth 10x more than Insomniac with no game?

 

[reziel]

Sony lost their chance once again after From, Atlus and Arrowhead. They are so bad at this it's embarrassing. Penny-pinching fucks

They can't just throw money left and right like their competitor they have to see how things shape up first. If they just start throwing money out they'll easily go bankrupt or we will see more studios close or potentially get sold out. People need to look at both pros and cons here. Judging by your mindset you'd easily sink a company in no time flat. If you're not trolling right now.

 

[Muddasar]

I wouldn't bet the farm on this game or this team. How are they worth 10x more than Insomniac with no game?

Madness if you ask me.

This is all Tencents doing.

They got a massive stake on the cheap and now they go public at a hefty price.

Same happened with Epic.

 

[Danja]

They can't just throw money left and right like their competitor they have to see how things shape up first. If they just start throwing money out they'll easily go bankrupt or we will see more studios close or potentially get sold out. People need to look at both pros and cons here. Judging by your mindset you'd easily sink a company in no time flat. If you're not trolling right now.

It's not like they discovered the studios mentioned when they were worth billions. They had the opportunity to buy FROM for $300 million and I'm sure they could have proposed for Arrowhead for the same amount way before.

Yet they can invest in studios that basically has no games and are now suffering and doing lay offs / cancelling projects

 

[flaccidsnake]

Madness if you ask me.

This is all Tencents doing.

They got a massive stake on the cheap and now they go public at a hefty price.

Same happened with Epic.

But Playstation is also playing an informal role too. Stellar Blade wouldn't be on my radar at all without their backing. Even among those Nier/Bayo super fans seeking out this kind of game, there's definitely a PS fandom thread boosting it. Like this games success will get back at Nintendo somehow.