The next Stellar Blade will rely on AI. The CEO sees this as necessary to have any chance at all.
In 2024, Stellar Blade was a real surprise hit on the PlayStation 5 and a few months later also on Steam, when the PC version arrived. The action game took the world by storm, but it also made headlines due to the rather revealing protagonist – we also liked the game. Those who got into Stellar Blade were also met with an exciting combat system and an interesting world.
It’s not surprising that Stellar Blade 2 is already in the works. But the CEO makes it clear: AI will be a crucial component for individual employees to perform the work of hundreds.
China must be beaten, employees must be able to perform 100 times the work
Why does Stellar Blade 2 rely on AI? As reported by GameMeca, those at Shift Up see the use of AI as necessary to have any chance against Chinese companies. The studio Shift Up is based in South Korea.
In China, they would allocate many more employees to a game, which cannot be done elsewhere. Hyung-tae Kim, the CEO of Shift Up, stated: “We assign about 150 people to a single game, but China assigns 1,000 to 2,000 to it.”
The solution: The use of AI. Even though this is very controversial in the Western world, Kim sees the solution in broadly accepting and using AI. He also believes that AI would not lead to job reductions, as all available men and women would need to be well-versed in AI to even keep up with developers from China or the USA.
Moreover, Kim stated that AI would help “one person deliver the work of 100 people.”
In what form AI will actually be implemented remains to be seen. However, it seems clear: Slowly but surely, more and more developers are admitting to using AI in various ways.
Who is Stellar Blade comparing itself to? Although no concrete examples were provided, it is quite obvious that Kim is alluding to the successes of recent times from China. Particularly the two titles “Black Myth Wukong” and “Where Winds Meet.” The latter title heavily relies on AI in dialogues with NPCs, even though there are still quite a few quirky errors present.
When exactly Stellar Blade 2 will be released is still not clear. The development is likely still relatively at the beginning. However, a job posting reveals that Stellar Blade 2 will likely be released on multiple platforms from the start, at least PC and Xbox.
What we do know: The story of Stellar Blade 2 is expected to be significantly better and more complex than that of its predecessor.
