Kim Hyeong Tae, the CEO of Shift Up Corporation, the game developer behind Stellar Blade, rejected Western critics lampooning the game over gender and racial diversity.
Eve in Stellar Blade (2024), Shift Up
In an interview with Korean website Ruliweb, Kim was asked about Western media outlets expressing discomfort with the portrayal of Eve and other female characters in the game.
As translated via Google, he responded, “I know that in the West, game characters must reflect realistic appearances in many ways and that numerous issues such as gender and racial diversity are intertwined. However, Stellar Blade is only entertainment and a cultural product. I hope you’ll keep an eye on this as a fun action game has just been released.”
Eve in Stellar Blade (2024), Shift Up
In fact, he followed that up by contrasting the beauty of the characters such as Eve with the repulsive design of the Natives.
Kim shared, “Natives were intentionally designed to be repulsive. Most of them have no eyes and their limbs are deformed arbitrarily, causing discomfort, which is somewhat related to the setting of the story. We decided in advance where this monster would appear and what role it would play, but we also adopted an unexpected design to keep the work from becoming too rigid.”
He went on to reveal that many of the monsters are scans of Jang Hee-cheol’s clay sculptures, “Famous domestic clay artists, including designer Jang Hee-cheol, who is well known for director Bong Joon-ho’s movie ‘The Host’, sculpted the monster and then 3D scanned it again and applied it to the game. Therefore, you can expect at least that level of completeness.”
A screenshot of Stellar Blade (2024), Shift Up
Along with discussing the game’s character and monster designs, Kim also shared that the game would not have any additional costs outside of the main package, but that Shift Up would be releasing balance patches if they discover any issues. They will also release free DLC that will include additional costumes.
He shared, “If we accidentally missed something or there is something lacking, we will make up for it even after release. We will be working on a balance patch to prevent inconveniences for those who come in later and to make the game even more enjoyable for those who started playing first.”
Eve in Stellar Blade (2024), Shift Up
As for DLC, he said, “The release of DLC has not been determined, but free updates such as additional costumes are being prepared. We would like to make it clear here that Stellar Blade does not require any additional expenses that gamers are not aware of other than the cost of purchasing the package.”
However, he did note that if they do collaboration costumes those will likely have a cost associated with them, “The only exception is if you create a collaboration costume with another company’s IP, that amount can be sold for a fee.”
Finally, he appeared to reveal that they will be adding a New Game+ option after release, “Also, there is no New Game+ in the released version, so please look forward to it being updated very soon.”
A screenshot of Stellar Blade (2024), Shift Up
Stellar Blade arrives exclusively on PlayStation 5 on April 26, 2024. A demo for the game is currently available to download for free.
What do you make of Kim’s comments regarding Western media outlets criticizing the game as well as the revelation that the game will not have microtransactions outside of collaboration costumes?
