A sequel to Stellar Blade is officially in development and a recent investors' presentation tagged the title for a release by the end of 2027. However, whether you should actually expect the follow-up to be out by then is quite a different matter.
Speaking in an interview with ThisIsGame (via MP1st), Shift Up CEO Kim Hyung-hyung explained the studio put all of its resources into the recently released PC version of the game, so work on the sequel is currently still in the "deep R&D" (research and development) phase.
He then continues: "Releasing it in 2027 would be fantastic, but with only three years left, all I can say is that we’ll try our best. What I can promise, though, is that it will be a great game."
Elsewhere in the interview, it's confirmed that a piece of DLC for the original game has been turned into a piece of Stellar Blade 2. The scope for the expansion "grew larger than expected", so Shift Up adapted it for a "full sequel. However, a lot has changed since then."
For the follow-up, the team is also looking to create a "much richer and more complete narrative". Agreeing the original's story was "weak", it's said that creating cutscenes became a difficult task. "As a result, we had no choice but to cut back on cutscenes that supplemented the world-building and character narratives, excluding the main plot, for efficiency’s sake. That was the only way we could finish the game."
With a sequel in the works, Shift Up has the potential to turn the Stellar Blade IP into a successful franchise, with the first game now having sold over three million copies following the recent PC port. It sold one million units in just three days and has quickly become Sony's most popular single player launch on Steam.