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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

(Bloomberg) -- Game developer Shift Up Corp. jumped as much as 49% in its first day of trade in South Korea after an initial public offering that raised 435 billion won ($320 million), the largest in the country for a gaming firm in almost three years.

The shares traded as high as 89,500 won. The startup, which has China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd. as its second-largest holder, sold nearly 7.3 million shares at 60,000 won each, the top of a marketed range. The offering drew strong interest from funds, with demand for 226 times the number of shares available to them, according to a filing last week.

Shift Up’s offering is the first of at least $50 million by a South Korean gaming developer — a business in which the country excels globally — since 2021, when Krafton Inc. listed after its jumbo $3.8 billion IPO, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“There is ample room for the stock to rise after the IPO,” Lee Jieun, an analyst at Daishin Securities Co. wrote in a report last month that initiated coverage with a buy recommendation. The company stands out from local rivals due to its intellectual property, diversified platforms and high success ratio, she wrote in the report.

Shift Up was founded in December 2013 by Hyung-Tae Kim, who will remain as the company’s largest holder after the listing. The firm is known for its mobile and computer games that include “Goddess of Victory: Nikke” and console game “Stellar Blade.”

The latter, set in a post-apocalyptic world, topped sales in the PlayStation stores of eight countries since being rolled out earlier this year, according to terms of the offering.

The Seoul-based company plans to use the IPO proceeds to diversify its game portfolios, according to terms of the deal. The company registered a profit of 107 billion won last year, compared with a loss of 7.1 billion won in the previous 12 months, the prospectus showed.

Shift Up’s IPO is the second-largest in South Korea this year, behind HD Hyundai Marine Solution Co.’s $553 million offering in the second quarter. As of Wednesday, Seoul trading debuts of IPOs of at least $300 million during the past five years ended their first session 62% higher on average, Bloomberg-compiled data show.

“The investment case rests on a stellar game development track record, several growth drivers, high profitability, and cash generation,” said Arun George, an analyst at Global Equity Research who publishes on the platform Smartkarma.

Game Maker Shift Up Jumps in South Korea After $320 Million IPO

(Bloomberg) -- Game developer Shift Up Corp. jumped as much as 49% in its first day of trade in South Korea after an initial public offering that raised 435 billion won ($320 million), the largest in the country for a gaming firm in almost three years. Most Read from BloombergSaudis Warned G-7...

finance.yahoo.com

 

[Pejo]

Well, here goes. I hope going public doesn't absolutely wreck Nikke and any other new games coming up.

Maybe the shareholders will vote to fast track the PC version of Stellar Blade, too.

 

[Dirk Benedict]

Well, here goes. I hope going public doesn't absolutely wreck Nikke and any other new games coming up.

Maybe the shareholders will vote to fast track the PC version of Stellar Blade, too.

Hopefully. They are hamstringing themselves, at this point. I certainly want to give it a go.

 

[Felessan]

They put a very minot stake (12.5%) which is further diluted by a large number of subscriber
There will be almost zero impact on management structure/decisions
And Tencent still bigger shareholder than all free float combined

 

[NanaMiku]

The power of boobs and butts

 

[RagnarokIV]

The PC version is going sell like crazy.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

They need investment to diversify so this was a given. SU founders are artists, not suits, so everything will be fine as long as they are in charge.

I hope Nowiz (Life of Pi founders) comes next, I love those guys, Brown Dust 2 is really an excellent game, very underrated.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Anyone found a cheap easy way to invest as a foreigner?

 

[Fake]

I love this.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

I hope (pipe dream) that someday they bring back Destiny Child, one of the gachas with better story and art, and the one that made all this possible. Let alone that the story isn't finished, goddammit.

I was kind of disappointed for not getting any DC costume or easter egg in Stellar Blade.

 

[FoxMcChief]

More like Shaft Up, am I right?

 

[NanaMiku]

Huh, has Destiny Child already ended in Korea too?

 

[Arsic]

The PC version is going sell like crazy.

Doubtful. The ps5 version did what, one million? PC versions of the ps5 games all seem to sell substantially less than the ps5 version due to the delay of release of course.

So maybe 500,000 copies?

Boobs and butts are cool but this game is shallow and forgettable.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

this game is shallow and forgettable.

On YouTube it may look like that.

 

[Revolutionary]

Shift Up probably has this on repeat at the office:

 

[Dirk Benedict]

The PC version is going sell like crazy.

I'm ready to buy.

 

[LectureMaster]

Studio is worth as much as Koei Tecmo. Crazy shit, I hope this entails positive impacts on South Korean developers focusing on AAA single player games.

Stellar Blade Developer Is Now Worth as Much as KOEI TECMO in Market Capitalization Following Huge IPO

Stellar Blade developer Shift Up had a very successful IPO in South Korea and ended up with a market cap similar to KOEI TECMO.

wccftech.com

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Whatever, money won't help them in making a good game.

Funny that anything sexualized gets promoted these days, regardless of the quality. Dark times we live in.

Dark times in which asylum inmates get access to the internet.

You had your attention quota fulfilled, now please fuck off.

 

[Oddvintagechap]

Boobs and butts are cool but this game is shallow and forgettable.

The game sold 1m copies. Can we not pretend this isn’t disappointing for a PS5 exclusive.

What is that Sackboy numbers?

IPO numbers is from the mobile game.

 

[Haint]

The game sold 1m copies. Can we not pretend this isn’t disappointing for a PS5 exclusive.

What is that Sackboy numbers?

IPO numbers is from the mobile game.

That's pretty poor, how does Sony continue securing these exclusivity contracts with pittance money hats when the games all under perform in spades?

 

[Unknown Soldier]

I bought and Platinum'd Stellar Blade and I can confidently say they earned every bit of their IPO success

Studio is worth as much as Koei Tecmo. Crazy shit, I hope this entails positive impacts on South Korean developers focusing on AAA single player games.

Stellar Blade Developer Is Now Worth as Much as KOEI TECMO in Market Capitalization Following Huge IPO

Stellar Blade developer Shift Up had a very successful IPO in South Korea and ended up with a market cap similar to KOEI TECMO.

wccftech.com

They are way, way more profitable than Koei Tecmo could ever hope to be

If you don't know what Nikke is maybe you should Google it sometime, it's consistently one of the Top 5 mobile games in Asia

 

[Mibu no ookami]

That's pretty poor, how does Sony continue securing these exclusivity contracts with pittance money hats when the games all under perform in spades?

It's a difficult market out there, especially for original IP. Everyone says they want new games, but new games rarely sell all that well. Especially more linear-oriented games like this one.

Games almost have to be open world in order to sell these days.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

The game sold 1m copies. Can we not pretend this isn’t disappointing for a PS5 exclusive.

What is that Sackboy numbers?

IPO numbers is from the mobile game.

LMAO it's a Soulslike, and it's not From. People think non-From Soulslikes are 10 million sellers?

Lies of P sold about a million too and it was multiplat on everything

Compared to that, Stellar Blade on PS5 alone selling a million is a huge success

 

[nial]

Shift Up probably has this on repeat at the office:

I will start playing NIKKE one day, one day...

That's pretty poor, how does Sony continue securing these exclusivity contracts with pittance money hats when the games all under perform in spades?

Because it was not just a moneyhat. Did Sony produce and publish Final Fantasy VII Rebirth like they did with Stellar Blade?
Either way, those estimated numbers -over 1M- came from Shift Up (not Sony, the one company with all the up-to-date data), 2 months after the game's release, for a niche new IP.

 

[00_Zer0]

It's a difficult market out there, especially for original IP. Everyone says they want new games, but new games rarely sell all that well. Especially more linear-oriented games like this one.

Games almost have to be open world in order to sell these days.

I think it has more to do with Sony exclusivity and being stuck on PS5. Since I don't t own a PS5 I will never own this game unless it specifically comes to PC via Steam. This game is missing out on a much larger PC market that could boost those sales dramatically. Today's $100 million++ video games can't afford to be stuck on one platform and Stellar Blade won't see another significant sales boost until they release this game on PC.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I think it has more to do with Sony exclusivity and being stuck on PS5. Since I don't t own a PS5 I will never own this game unless it specifically comes to PC via Steam. This game is missing out on a much larger PC market that could boost those sales dramatically. Today's $100 million++ video games can't afford to be stuck on one platform and Stellar Blade won't see another significant sales boost until they release this game on PC.

PC/Steam is not the panacea that you're pretending it is.

While larger, the PC market also tends not to buy games at full price and also doesn't really buy games like this. The active buying power on PS far exceeds that of PC.

A PC release won't save a game like Stellar Blade. The key to making a game like Stellar Blade successful is limiting the budget i.e. time and resources.

 

[00_Zer0]

PC/Steam is not the panacea that you're pretending it is.

While larger, the PC market also tends not to buy games at full price and also doesn't really buy games like this. The active buying power on PS far exceeds that of PC.

A PC release won't save a game like Stellar Blade. The key to making a game like Stellar Blade successful is limiting the budget i.e. time and resources.

I stopped reading at panacea.

Seriously though, Microsoft and Sony both know they need PC sales more than PC gamers need their games. It doesn't matter if they catch PC gamers at full price or during a sale. With PC sales you are playing the long game. The only other platform that sells at full price and is good at long term growing software sales is Nintendo.

Sony and Microsoft don't have that kind of power or luxury to continue with the antiquated model of a closed console platform. Ballooning AAA budgets and waning interest in certain sectors of the AAA gaming market are forcing even Sony to show up on PC.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

The game sold 1m copies. Can we not pretend this isn’t disappointing for a PS5 exclusive.

What is that Sackboy numbers?

IPO numbers is from the mobile game.

Check Bayonetta and DMC saga sales. Or Nier, both Replicant and Automata. Those are the references. Action games are niche. It's stupid to even pretend this game could sell like a generic open world.

With time it will sell 3-4 million, which for this studio is a success, considering the shitstorm and media boycott around it. Let's not pretend that didn't happen.

And no, the IPO is not from the mobile game alone but from the expectations of making MORE games, in a future varied portfolio.

 

[Mr Hyde]

I don't know what people are smoking when they are saying Stellar Blade isn't a success at 1 million copies sold. A PS5 exclusive. A new original IP who was targeted by a coordinated attack from access media trying to sink it with accusations of sexism and misogyny claims. The fact that SB survived that shitstorm and came out on top not only reviewing well, but also selling over a million copies, is a testament to the games success.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

This isn't a dig at Shift Up at all as I enjoyed Stellar Blade and am keen on what they will make next, but at a $3.2bil market cap it seems quite overvalued to me when you consider the company hasn't really developed big IPs yet.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I stopped reading at panacea.

Seriously though, Microsoft and Sony both know they need PC sales more than PC gamers need their games. It doesn't matter if they catch PC gamers at full price or during a sale. With PC sales you are playing the long game. The only other platform that sells at full price and is good at long term growing software sales is Nintendo.

Sony and Microsoft don't have that kind of power or luxury to continue with the antiquated model of a closed console platform. Ballooning AAA budgets and waning interest in certain sectors of the AAA gaming market are forcing even Sony to show up on PC.

Seems you just have a fundamental misunderstanding of what value Sony has in the PC world.

The overall steam revenue is a small fraction of what PSN generates annually.

What Sony is looking for on PC in the short term is improved margins on their very costly to develop titles. Even getting 50 million in revenue on PC goes a long way, but it's nothing compared to the 600 million in revenue generated on console.

Sony looking to improve their margins doesn't make PC more important than it is no more than Sony making higher end headsets or PC monitors or accessibility controllers.

 

[Aenima]

They need investment to diversify so this was a given. SU founders are artists, not suits, so everything will be fine as long as they are in charge.

I hope Nowiz (Life of Pi founders) comes next, I love those guys, Brown Dust 2 is really an excellent game, very underrated.

Neowiz is already public, and they dont make more money because they are way too generous. In Brown Dust 2 i have been pulling and getting every single character and my tickets for pulls keep growing instead of shrinking. By far the most generous gacha game i ever played. But they seem ok with how much the game make cuz they keep giving away gacha tickets like free candy in halloween.
And yes the game deserved much more success than it has. Even without the very lewd fanservice, its a pretty good rpg with a nice story and characters, and an original turn based combat mechanic.

 

[TheAmazingSpiderMan]

The game is still pretty much are RRP most places here, it will be interesting to see how long this holds and then people will also buy when it lowers in price too.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[nowhat]

Whatever, money won't help them in making a good game.

Funny that anything sexualized gets promoted these days, regardless of the quality. Dark times we live in.

 

[Katatonic]

"..It's to grow the entire pie." - Shawn Layden

Hopefully Sony continues with this ethos so we can get more excellent games like SB.