Stellar Blade lead believes AI is essential for South Korea to compete with studios in the US and China, with the government to provide financial backing to support the use of the tech

As discussions around AI continue to flare, the director of 2024's Stellar Blade has stated he believes it's a necessary tool to help South Korean devs compete with the likes of America and China. Speaking at a national conference, he expressed this view in terms of the simple economics of the medium.

Hyung-tae Kim, director of Stellar Blade and CEO of developer Shift Up, told the attendees of the 2026 Economic Growth Strategy summit in South Korea that AI may prove intrinsic to the country maintaining velocity alongside China and the United States. A huge portion of Shift Up's audience is overseas, where competition often comes from Chinese products, he said, per GameMeca, via Automaton.

Shift Up puts around 150 devs on each game, he explains, whereas in China the numbers are far greater, with releases involving 1,000 to 2,000 people or more. That's a stark difference, and AI can help make up the ground in terms of resources, Kim argues.

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Jobs won’t be lost, because the gap is such that studios will need every available hand alongside generative tools, he muses. This view is supported and echoed by Hwi-young Chae, the minister of culture, sports and tourism in South Korea, who says bigger companies are already building their own versions of these bots, and there are plans in place to help smaller teams invest in AI starting this year.

These viewpoints aren't surprising to hear. The promise of AI is that it can streamline processes and increase productivity by some order of magnitude. That said, others would argue these toolkits produce 'slop' that pales in comparison to human-made creativity and you'll wind up needing people to clean up whatever AI touches regardless.

But when you consider EA reportedly uses AI in all facets of the business, and Activision's been accused of using AI assets, Kim's point about bigger outfits already moving forward with this tech holds some water. Whether that should invite others to compete in the same way is another argument, but for now, Shift Up is doing just that. Not an ideal omen for Stellar Blade 2's development.

Stellar Blade director receives Presidential Commendation for contributions to South Korean game industry, though he thanks the action RPG's fans: "We will continue to do our utmost."