Shift Up Studio reported its financial results for the third quarter of 2024, which spanned from July 1 to September 30. We have highlighted the key points from the report.
Stellar Blade
- Shift Up’s revenue for the three months amounted to 58 billion won ($41 million), a 52.3% increase compared to the previous year.
- Net profit for Shift Up dropped by 1.9% to 23.48 billion won ($16.7 million), while operating profit rose by 120.4% to 35.57 billion won ($25.3 million).
- The studio's primary source of income remains Goddess of Victory: Nikke, with a quarterly revenue of 34.2 billion won ($24.3 million). Notably, this figure excludes the publisher Level Infinite’s share. Compared to last year, Shift Up's income from Goddess of Victory: Nikke decreased by 10.9%.
- The quarterly earnings from Goddess of Victory: Nikke fell short of Shift Up’s expectations. According to the studio, this was due to a disappointing crossover with the anime "Evangelion," which failed to sufficiently engage players. Nevertheless, the project's MAU remained stable.
- Royalties from Stellar Blade sales amounted to 22.58 billion won ($16.1 million), a decline of 12.7% compared to the previous quarter (April-June).
- Shift Up noted that although Stellar Blade sales have begun to decline, they are still at a satisfactory level. The studio plans to release regular updates for the game to continue maintaining user interest. Additionally, they anticipate significant success for the upcoming PC version of Stellar Blade, scheduled for release in 2025. Shift Up believes this futuristic action game may perform better on PC than on consoles, a conclusion drawn from studying the success of Black Myth: Wukong and the increasing market share of Steam in the AAA games sector.
- Shift Up’s workforce has slightly increased. As of September 30, the studio employed 314 people, five more than at the end of June.