Shift Up Confirms ‘Stellar Blade’ PC Release – Could It Steal Steam’s Concurrent Single Player Record From ‘Black Myth: Wukong’?
In finally making the announcement many a potential player have been waiting for, Shift Up has officially confirmed that their sci-fi action game Stellar Blade is headed to PC.
News of Stellar Blade‘s upcoming PC deployment was first broken by Shift Up themselves in their Q3 2024 earnings report, as published to the investor relations section of their official website on November 12th.
Answering a previously submitted question as to “the timing and expectations for the expansion of Stellar Blade to the PC platform”, the Korea-based studio revealed, “We are aiming to launch within 2025.”
They further posited, “Considering recent trends such as Steam’s expanding share of the AAA game market and the global success of Black Myth: Wukong, we expect PC performance [of Stellar Blade] to exceed that of consoles.”
This mention of Game Science’s popular title raises an interesting question, whether intentional or not: Could Stellar Blade stand a chance at stealing the ‘Steam concurrent player count’ record from current champion Black Myth: Wukong?
A single-player boss rush-esque title inspired by the Chinese epic Journey to the West, the game broke records upon its release in August 2024, selling over 20 million copies across all current-gen platforms (with more than 70% of those sales coming from within China itself) and achieving over 2.4 million concurrent players on Steam alone.
In doing so, Black Myth: Wukong earned itself the platform’s record for ‘highest all-time concurrent player count for a single-player title‘ which it still holds to this day, its numbers only being beaten by the multiplayer PUBG: Battlegrounds.
And though to not quite the same extent due to its soon-to-be-over PlayStation 5 exclusivity, Stellar Blade enjoyed a relatively impressive reception of its own.
Coming from the mind of director Kim Hyung Tae, the illustrator of Wuxia-themed MMO Blade & Soul and CEO of Shift Up itself, the game’s post-apocalyptic world story, stunning visuals, and precision-demanding gameplay were so well-received – not to mention the ‘visual allure’ of protagonist Eve’s allure alone is a proven track record for success, that it managed to sell more than one million copies in its first two months on shelves.
The initial success of the game has since prompted developers to provide various post-launch feature updates, including a photo mode, new skins for Eve, and the soon-to-release NieR: Automata crossover DLC set, which on November 20th will see the aforementioned protagonist recruited into YoRHa and given a new outfits based on 2B and A2, as well as the infamous, Yoko-Taro-inspired merchant Emil.
Given that the game has ostensibly continued to sell in the months since reaching this milestone, it’s not unreasonable to speculate that although Stellar Blade hasn’t had the same cultural impact and significance as Black Myth: Wukong, the Korean-developed title could stand a genuine chance at beating its Chinese counterpart’s player record.
Of course, there does remain one potential factor that could completely sink Stellar Blade‘s sales potential: As the game is published by Sony Entertainment, it’s possible that they may require players to have a PlayStation Network account in order to play.
If this does turn out to the case, rather than seeing its player count explode, Shift Up may instead see Stellar Blade completely fumble its opportunity to reach a wider audience, thus rendering its potential challenge to Black Myth: Wukong completely null and void.
Whether Stellar Blade can truly reach or even surpass Black Myth: Wukong’s numbers remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: Eve is ready to conquer the hearts of PC gamers worldwide.
NEXT: Shift Up CEO Says He Was “Following His Instincts” When Designing Sexy Characters For ‘Stellar Blade’ And ‘Goddess Of Victory: Nikke’: “It’s Something That Users Like And Want, But I Also Do It Because I Like It”
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