While it may have been glossed over at the 2024 The Game Awards, Stellar Blade now has a rare distinction of recognition from a political office. The game's director, Hyung-tae Kim, who also runs developer Shift Up, has received a nod from the president of South Korea for his contributions to video games.
Yes, on December 10, Hyung-tae Kim was given a Presidential Commendation for helping to enhance and grow game development in his home country. Per Daum, as translated by Automaton, the award was given out during the 2025 Korea Content Awards, an event overseen by the Korea Creative Content Agency through the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.
As you can probably gather, these awards are a way of honoring people who make cultural contributions within South Korea on a national level, and Shift Up has been developing successful games on a global scale for several years now, demonstrating South Korea’s value to the industry over and over.
Beyond Stellar Blade, which was published by Sony and had sold over three million copies by the summer of this year, Goddess of Victory: Nikke in 2023 helped establish Shift Up's profile outside of South Korea. As of now, the studio has a further two releases in the works: A Stellar Blade sequel and another title codenamed Project Spirits, due in 2027.
In accepting the award, Kim drew attention to his team, who truly brought his vision to life. "This Presidential Commendation is thanks to the development team and fans who believed in and supported Shift Up," he said. "We will continue to do our utmost to further showcase the competitiveness of Korean games on the global stage."
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