Stellar Blade PS5 Dev Shift Up Allegedly Signs on As Sony Second-Party

Since seeing through internal emails that MS are fully invested in buying their way to taking PlayStation out of business, I am increasingly happen when I see Sony suring up their software pipeline like this. Sad times.

This game looks great by the way, with seemingly fluid gameplay and fantastic art design.

People on social media told me this doesn’t count as a PlayStation game because it isn’t first party lol.

Nice to know Stellar Blade hasn’t been forgotten. Looking forward to whatever news comes out.

@Jay767 People on social media have the highest degree of education along with a life long experience in multiple fields so we all should definitely listen to them.

Looking forward to the games they develop under Sony leadership. Hope the relationship is fruitful with loads of successes.

I hope we see a release date for this at the game awards and Sony must like what they see at shift up.
I wouldn't be surprised that if Stellar Blade reviews well then Sony may make them 1st party sometime in the future.

I'm certain this will show up at the game awards, and maybe even get a release date for early next year.

Hopefully this partnership gets Aloy in Nikke 😂

I wish we heard less about Shift Up's business moves and more about the actual game they're making.

Nice. When I think about second party I think Arrowhead and Housemarque (before acquisition), both made some of my fav ps4 games and maybe ps5 if Helldivers 2 is as good as I expect, Returnal is already up there.
If they think this way about Shift up ans Stellar Blade then I'm exited.

@DonaldMcRonald it's funny cause some of us posting here, actually are part of the industry and know exciting confidential information, and are dying to share but can't because of NDAs. So every now and then they drop hints, and can obviously not divulge their sources, but then get called on the "trust me bro" ^^ I guess it still satisfies the the urge to share great info, and even possibly without too much repercussions given these are not believed ^^

@UltimateOtaku91 Why did I read your comment as get aloy in some Nike's

@shonenjump86 : same, couldn’t have said it better myself.👍

So the next time we see the Stellar Blade heroine, she will have the face of Lena Dunham.

Guess it will launch under the Playstation Studios banner like Rise of the Ronin

I'm still looking forward to this

Hopefully we get more info on Stellar Blade soon. From what we’ve seen, it could be a gorgeous game

@Grimwood I see Tuesday is ‘I’m gonna wear my cynical hat today’.

A email will be sent for any info. See no, cynical words needed.

The Devs still have the audacity to say this game releasing in 2023 🤣. Game looks really cool can't wait

That description of Nikke gave me a laugh. Have you see every other gacha waifu game?

Can we have this game already. It looks fun as heck.

Stellar Blade is a very marketable name. It's simple, short and to the point, which very much helps in the western market. Hopefully it's a very good game, because this could be the next big brand hit 😁

Much too early to say it'll be akin to a Final Fantasy but it has the vibes of something that could balloon in popularity quite easily.

They could do with changing the initial logo from the reveal though, as from a distance all you see is "blade" and close up it looks like Stettar BLADE. I imagine Sony will have words..

I think it's best to tread with caution when hyping this and that other game, Phantom Blade Zero. Both games are being developed by studios who've never made console games before and come from mobile game backgrounds.

I do have a little more faith in Stellar Blade than Phantom Blade Zero though, of which my suspicion is that the "combat" gameplay is nothing more than autoplaying scripted events unless proven otherwise.

First off, @thefourfoldroot1, it wasn't a stated aim of Microsoft to 'buy Sony out of business', it was simply a conversation wherein it was stated that Microsoft have the financial means to buy Sony out of business. People seem to confuse the two, often because they misunderstand the comment, but also often because they prefer to use the comment to take aim at Microsoft. Ultimately, the proof is in the pudding because if Microsoft were really looking to buy Sony out of business, we would not only see far more acquisitions than we do, but also Microsoft throwing money at developers to make their games exclusive to the Xbox in the way that Sony is here. So, even if regulators may prevent Microsoft from acquiring some developers, the signing of exclusivity contracts would be fair game because Sony does it on a frequent basis, and so arguments that it would be uncompetitive would be nulled.

Secondly, it can easily be argued that Microsoft's recent, more aggressive, stance in acquiring publishers, is a direct response to Sony's own aggressive pursuit of both developer acquisitions and third party (and now 'second party) game exclusivity. Were Microsoft not to have responded, then I have little doubt that the Xbox would have ceased to exist beyond this generation. Indeed, some industry analysists are, even now, of the mind that the Series maybe the last Xbox console, and that Microsoft will move solely into game development. Personally, I believe that if that happens, it will have a far more dire consequence for those of us that game on the PlayStation than many wish to contemplate. As an example, it is widely suspected by industry insiders, that the PS5 was intended to sell for as much as $700 when it first released, but that when the Series X was revealed to be costing $500, Sony were pushed into matching the price a week later because they risked the whole PS3 debacle once again. So, were there not to be a next Xbox, Sony can price the PS6 at whatever they feel appropriate, rather than be beholden to the price of their competitor. That is just one example of where having strong competition benefits us gamers, however, regardless of this, such is the dominance of Sony that they felt empowered to be the first to raise the prices of their consoles, their games, and their subscription services (with no apparent benefits to us gamers). Indeed, the only reason we have the current subscription service is down to the existence of the Game Pass. So it is clear that having strong, and lasting competition, is essential to those that game on the PlayStation.

Obviously, Sony responds to Microsoft as Microsoft responds to Sony. More and more acquisitions are likely to happen on both sides, as will the signing of exclusivity contracts. Regardless, the continued existence of the Xbox is essential to keeping Sony in check as without the Xbox, Sony will have free reign to do as it pleases, and the one thing you can be certain of is that that will be unlikely to benefit us gamers in the long run...

So that makes more sense than the reports last week of Sony and Shift Up signing an agreement for Sony to publish Stellar Blade even though Sony has been listed as the publisher at least since the name change to Stellar Blade. It was actually them signing on to have Sony publish their games for however long, which would be the same thing as deals with Quantic Dream and such in the past.

I'll repeat what others have said that hopefully we get more from Stellar Blade and an actual release date at the Game Awards. I've been looking forward to this ever since the original reveal I think 2 years ago.

oof potential censorship incoming

It's great to see Sony continuing to cultivate talent and build relationships that may lead into acquisitions despite Microsoft forcing their hand. I expected Sony to do something drastic like the Bungie acquisition though that still didn't fully counter Bethesda, let alone ABK. Arrowhead, Ember Lab, and Shift Up are all in this category, maybe even Hoyoverse.

What even is 2nd party? i dont think ive heard of that before. If god of war is a first party exclusive and ff7 is 3rd party exclusive then what would 2nd party be

This has a lot of potential imho. It’s all down to how the game actually turns out: hopefully it’s good!

@Fiendish-Beaver
Sure, they were just spitballing, never meant anything by it. How could we take work emails between top level MS executives and leaders so literally?!

Never heard about Sony intending to launch PS5 at 700. Not seen any evidence to that effect either, although I’m sure anyone can find any opinion online to meet with their own thoughts if they so wished.

But I do agree strong competition is essential. So let’s hope MS are not allowed to just spend Sony out of business. Unfortunately recent purchases do not augur well.

They’re going to censor the hell out of this game aren’t they?

Do I note sarcasm, @thefourfoldroot1? 😂

I think we can agree that there is a difference between saying you are capable of doing something, and then going ahead and doing it, yes? As I say, the proof is in the pudding; whilst it is is entirely possible that Microsoft will want the dust to settle, following the entire ABK saga, before looking to acquire another developer/publisher, there is nothing to stop them from buying up several, or indeed all AAA third party exclusives right now. They could certainly afford to do so, indeed, they could probably afford to do so from the interest they receive on their capital, without needing to dip into their amassed funds. So why aren't they? Probably because it makes zero business sense for them to do so due to the fact that the outlay to acquire exclusivity on such a poor ratio of gamers on their platform, as compared to the PlayStation, as opposed to the return from such exclusivity rights would likely result in loss after loss, and that won't sit well with investors and shareholders. So, the ability to buy Sony out of business, whilst entirely financially possible, just won't happen for a multitude of reasons. So were these guys talking business strategy or simply spit-balling? I have little doubt that it is the latter because above all else, these guys are running a business. They know what will fly, and what won't. What regulators will allow, and what they won't. What investors and shareholders will accept, and what they won't. It's not like they actually own Microsoft, Xbox, or indeed all the billions that it would cost to make it happen.

You say that Microsoft's recent acquisitions don't auger well, but what would you have them do? Simply wait until the end of the generation and give up? I so often hear people say they should 'just make better games', but we all know that for a true AAA quality game to be made takes between 5 and 7 years now. The average generation is around 7 years long, and even if they started a few years back, the likelihood is that we would only see a handful of games between now and the end of this generation, and the decision to continue into the next generation will need to be made now, if not earlier, and you need to have some idea regarding the viability of remaining in the market before you can make that decision. Regardless, I still do not think that Xbox developing a further console is a done deal just yet, which is kind of sad. If they do cease to be a thing, it will not only hurt the Xbox community, but the PlayStation one too.

Lastly, as for the $700 price tag for the PS5, I'm surprised you don't recall all the speculation immediately prior to the actual announcement. As I recall, Sony were going to announce the cost, and then delayed that announcement when it became clear that Microsoft were about to say how much their console would cost. Everyone was speculating about how much the PS5 was going to cost, and then the reasons as to why Sony delayed the announcement, and then again, once Sony did finally release the price, that the only reason it was $500 was to match the price of the Xbox. It was absolutely rife, and I'm surprised that you don't remember it...

@Fiendish-Beaver Stop making sense.

Don't you know the only thing that matters is that Sony "wins" and continues to "cultivate relationships and talent" where Microsoft just "bullies the industry with money?"

Microsoft has John Wick on payroll and will send him into any developer who doesn't accept Microsoft's offers.

@Fiendish-Beaver
Yes, sarcasm is my default reaction to a world of absurdities lol.

Sure they could afford to and haven’t, and I’m sure this is partly because they are being looked at by antitrust agencies (yet again), and partly because it’s a big investment with some risk, but if it looks like it’s the nuclear option or death, they may choose the nuclear option of buying up the likes of Take2 and EA and just dominating the entire industry, counting on making the money back over the next few decades and taking court expenses as a cost of business. I hope not, but it could be said to be a more a reasonable solution than buying parts of the market piecemeal.

Regarding MS leaving the market, I’d honestly not mind. I think they are a big risk. We need companies that are competitive with each other, not an industry where one company is so many orders of magnitude richer than all the rest combined. But things change quickly, if Amazon, Apple, Google etc decide to take gaming more seriously we might need MS also. That would be sad for me though, because I don’t trust companies making that type of investment to not rinse consumers afterwards.

And I probably don’t remember the 700 thing because I don’t pay much attention to rumours.

That's absolutely right, @AdamNovice. That is how many IPs they now own, most you list they now own AFTER the ABK acquisition.

Then take into consideration just how many of those titles have new versions currently in development? Then, consider how many (or should I say few) of those titles are system sellers? Who is going to leave the PlayStation to play Spyro or Crash, or even just to play the next Wolfenstein? Will some of those titles even come to console? Yes, there were some positive feedback from the likes of Warcraft as to the possibility of it coming to consoles, but that is not the same as it actually happening, and again, will people shift ecosystems in order to play them? If the title is already on the PC, will people then shift to the Xbox in order to play them? After all, if you can already play them, and any subsequent games on the PC, what's the point?

So that leaves the likes of Diablo and CoD, and maybe as to possible system sellers, yet Diablo has only just released, we'd be lucky to see another for about 10 years, and CoD WILL be on the PlayStation for the next 10 years, so again, where is the pull to the Xbox ecosystem?

Let's face it, Starfield was supposed to have people join the Xbox en masse, but that didn't happen, did it? At best, people took out a subscription to play it, but most realised it wasn't actually the next big thing that the Xbox community had been hoping for, and so just ignored it, and remained quite content on their PlayStations.

Also, whilst Candy Crush will make a tonne of money, it is not something that anyone will buy a console to play. If they are inclined to play it, they will do so on their mobiles, so other than it making money for Microsoft, it serves zero purpose for the Xbox, even if it does actually make the leap to console.

Lastly, as I said before, if it take 5 to 7 years to make a quality AAA title from scratch , then a title will already have to have been in development for some years to shift that dial before such time as this generation ends, and again, as I said before, decisions as to the future of the Xbox console will be being made now, not at the end of the generation. So again, what can Xbox do to turn things around right now?

You highlight the problem in your last comment, @thefourfoldroot1; so let's just suppose that Xbox ceases to exist, who next?

If someone like Microsoft cannot make a go of it, then you are looking at someone like Amazon or maybe Apple (though I have my doubts with them). However, the problem is, unless they take over Xbox as a going concern, they would be beginning from a standing start. If Microsoft cannot make a go of it with all their trillions, and over 20 years in the business, what chance a new competitor to Sony? I'll save you the trouble of thinking on it; the answer is zilch! And what will happen whilst that company is entering the market? Again, the answer is very simple; Sony will make hey! Pretty much everyone that currently games on an Xbox will move over to the PlayStation meaning that the new competitor will not only face the same issues that the Xbox does, but to an even greater extent. If a new competitor is going to enter the market, then the best time to do that would actually be now where there is more competition in the market. Going up against a goliath such as a souped up Sony as their sole competition would be a pointless act of company suicide...

Microsoft has John Wick contracted by Atilla the Hun, @GamingFan4Lyf, whereas Sony has Mother Teresa on a mission from God... 😂

@Fiendish-Beaver
Well, Apple wouldn’t be starting from scratch if they put a subscription service on all their iPhones, but I take your general point.
Not sure the purpose of that point however. The issue is that MS are slowly encroaching through a competitive advantage Sony does not have and will never have. All PlayStation players can hope is that Sony do deals like this to keep software coming to their system rather than all their multiplat IPs be bought up and taken away one by one over the next couple of decades. Which is why it’s good to see Sony build relationships like these so we can have a little hope they won’t be spent out of the business.

@Fiendish-Beaver I bet if there was a console that was an affordable Nvidia RTX machine, that would persuade more of the PC-centric crowd to a console as it would actually have features that they want rather than being forced to "downgrade" to AMD's SoC.

Plus, it may actually be a console that can differentiate itself from the "premium console" competition rather than just being an alternative to a similar architecture.

Unfortunately, I don't know how much of a loss Nvidia is willing to take for the sake of competing with AMD in the console space (especially since it's killing AMD in the PC space).

It's not that it's a fanboy thing for Nvidia, but, let's be honest...the majority of PC gamers us Nvidia cards because Nvidia is actually trying to push graphics technology into the future where AMD is just reacting to play catch up.

Sure, Nintendo is partnering with Nvidia, but it's more conservative in hardware capabilities for the sake of mobility.

Whilst I understand what you are saying, @thefourfoldroot1, let's look at it another way; if (and to could well be a big if) there is another Xbox console after the Series, then we have to assume that Sony will also release the PS6 around the same time. Look back at what Sony have offered over the course of the PS4 and PS5, and then look at what the Xbox has offered in that same time period. Where will you put your money? With the Xbox who has a few franchises capable of bringing in a lot of money, but where those franchises are also available on the PlayStation? Or simply opt for the PS6 and benefit from not only those Xbox games, but also all the exclusive content (both first, third, and now second party) that Sony brings to the table?

In all honesty, unless there is a massive turn around in fortunes, then I can't see many sticking with Xbox next generation. That, I believe is the conundrum that Microsoft faces; do they cut their loses and either sell off their studios (all or some) and leave the console market altogether. Or face the humiliation of losing 3 generations in a row, and being faced with dwindling support for their platform? Bear in mind also, that Game Pass is only a viable service if enough people have bought into it. There are already questions over its viability, so if even fewer people are subscribed, then there will come a point where it is no longer sustainable.

As it stands, hopes that were placed on Starfield, have all but been dashed, and so now all they really have to look forward to are Avowed and Hellblade 2. Bearing in mind that Avowed is being likened in scope to The Outer Worlds, then do Microsoft currently have a 'system seller' in production? And of course, it is highly likely that we will see another TLoU and GoW for the PlayStation either towards the end of this generation, or the beginning of the next, and maybe even another Spiderman, and all of a sudden the scales are firmly tipped in the favour of Sony.

It is not all about the money that the parent company has, it's what that company brings to the table, and at present, Sony is doing that in spades...

I think we can but dream, @GamingFan4Lyf, but I really cannot see Nvidia doing what you suggest. They would simply be cutting off their noses to spite their face. They are already making a tonne of profit, why undertake a loss making venture?

@Fiendish-Beaver
First party games are always few and far between and rarely system sellers. Sony cannot afford to buy the likes of EA, Take2 (nor ABK), and that’s fantastic for gamers as then they have a choice of systems to buy into without losing out on social play spaces those big publishers create. The only company capable, in theory (and they have clearly shown they know this) of monopolising the market by buying up these huge games are MS. Hopefully they won’t be allowed to do so.

As to them going out of the gaming business, that’s not going to happen. Unlike Sony, they don’t need to make huge profits to keep investing, they can think much longer term.

If Stellar Blade shadow drops at TGA Im going to lose it (and call in sick for work).

Joking aside. I really need an update on this game.

@Fiendish-Beaver Yeah, Nvidia has more to prove with Nintendo - pushing mobile gaming further than anyone thought possible - than partnering with a standalone console.

Though maybe Microsoft could make it happen again? Who knows. I just don't want to see Sony go unchecked. It really would be bad.

All that stuff people worry about with Microsoft monopolizing gaming should be the same worry with Sony being the only game in town.

But I guess as long as they get their Spider-Man, Last of Us, and God of War fix...who cares, right?!

Yes, Microsoft can absolutely afford to think long-term, @thefourfoldroot1, however, if they cannot improve their position in the market, and indeed, should they lose further ground to Sony, there really is the possibility of them at the very least trying to offload Xbox as a going concern, and should that fail, then Xbox could simply cease in the console market.

Some believe that Microsoft may look to do this anyway and simply make games for the remaining consoles and PC. The costs involved in developing a new console are not insignificant, and whilst Microsoft can easily afford it, they are still accountable to their shareholders and investors. If they are not going to see a return on that investment due to a dwindling number of people buying into the Xbox brand, then they will simply cut their loses and cease making new consoles, and instead invest more heavily into making games. Of course, if that happens, Sony can charge what they like for both consoles and games. So to all those cheering on the ill-fortunes of the Xbox, and even its demise, I would just say be careful what you wish for.

As for 'system sellers' I agree that they are few and far between, but that is not to say that Sony does not have them. People will absolutely buy a PlayStation for the likes of TLoU, GoW, Uncharted, Gran Turismo and Final Fantasy, etc. The Xbox has fewer quality exclusive titles, and that therefore equates to fewer consoles sold. There is little difference between the two consoles when it comes to the architecture. It is all about the games that one console offers over the other. It is as simple as that...

@Jireland92
Not really much to censor but there could be some subtle tweaks. We'll see. Sony is a bit inconsistent with the stuff it does and doesn't allow. There's some stuff in Like a Dragon Gaiden that I wouldn't expect current Sony to allow on its console.

1P - Ownership of IP, studio, publishing and Marketing rights (TLOU 2)

1-2P -Studio, publishing and Marketing rights (but not IP) (Spider-man 2)

2P Publishing and marketing rights (But non ownership of development team or IP) (Stellar Blade)

3P Partnership - Marketing rights only (Hogwarts Legacy/ FC 24)