Stellar Blade Director Kim Hyung-tae Wins Presidential Commendation Award

The director of Stellar Blade has received a major national award in South Korea.

Kim Hyung-tae was given a Presidential Commendation at the 2025 Korea Content Awards, held in Seoul last week. The event is hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The awards honor people and companies that helped grow South Korea’s content industries. Kim was recognized for his work on games such as Stellar Blade and Goddess of Victory: Nikke.

The award praised his long-term efforts to improve the global strength of Korean game IP, especially during the 12 years since he founded Shift Up.

Accepting the award, Kim said: “This Presidential Citation is thanks to the developers and fans who believed in and supported Shift Up. We will continue to do our best to further promote the competitiveness of Korean games on the global stage.”

At the same event, Maggie Kang, writer and co-director of KPop Demon Hunters, received the top honor, the Order of Cultural Merit.

Stellar Blade, first released as a PS5 exclusive, launched on PC in June and became very popular on Steam. It set a new PlayStation record for concurrent players on PC for a single-player game.

Earlier this year, Shift Up confirmed a sequel to Stellar Blade, planned to release by the end of 2027.

After that, the studio plans to release Project Spirits, a cross-platform game for PC, consoles, and mobile, published globally by Level Infinite.
“Leveraging Shift Up’s expertise and their proven success with globally acclaimed IPs such as Goddess of Victory: Nikke and Stellar Blade, Level Infinite aims to deliver the next generation of gaming experiences to players worldwide,” the companies said.