Shift Up, the bombastic character action game Stellar Blade’s developer, has posted a job listing that points to the possible multiplatform future of the sequel.
The company has quietly confirmed what many fans were clamoring for: the sequel is officially in development, and the studio is aiming for a wider reach this time around.
A new recruitment call, posted on the company’s website, describes the next installment as a “AAA multiplatform action game” that “aims for release on various platforms, including consoles and PC,” while expanding the world of the first game. The listing also explicitly talks about “consoles” in the plural, which is a shift from the original, which launched as a PlayStation 5 exclusive in April 2024 before eventually finding its way to PC in June 2025.
The same listing mentions the success of the PC port, which garnered over 200,000 concurrent players at launch. So, Stellar Blade 2 being a multiplatform release is equally possible as it being a PlayStation 5 timed exclusive again.
It’s worth mentioning that Stellar Blade was one of the first PlayStation-published PC ports that was available for purchase in countries without PlayStation Network access. And it’s still unclear if PlayStation will be the publisher for the sequel in the first place.
What we actually know about Stellar Blade 2
Shift Up has been rather open and transparent in its communication about the possible follow-up to Stellar Blade. CEO and Game Director Kim Hyung-tae has acknowledged that the original game had issues with its story and narrative, and this is something they aimed to address in the sequel. He named cutscene costs and a lack of in-house experience with AAA and narrative-driven games as the main culprits of this.
Many character-focused scenes and world-building moments were cut to ship on time and budget, including explanations for things as simple as Eve’s endless wardrobe and deeper side-character arcs. This, along with everything that was initially planned for a big DLC, is being rolled into the sequel that promises to be “narratively richer.”
At the same time, Shift Up did make some post-release changes to the game’s narrative, namely adding three new epilogues that expand the aftermath for Eve and the people of Xion after one of the game’s three endings. This could very well be the groundwork being laid down for the inevitable sequel.
Where the story could go next
(Minor spoilers for the first game below.)
Stellar Blade ends in a very “choose your own future” way, with three different endings dependent on Eve’s choices around Adam, Mother Sphere, and the fate of Xion. A direct sequel will have to decide what’s actually canon: these endings are too different in their outcomes to possibly build on in equal measure.
Given Kim Hyung-tae’s comments about including cut lore and canceled DLC developments into this new, more cohesive narrative, the safest bet is that Stellar Blade 2 will:
- Choose one of the original endings as canon, while using the epilogues as a bridge.
- Keep Eve as the lead, but develop her as a character instead of having her as somewhat of a blank slate super soldier that dodges well.
- Actually push Xion and its politics to the forefront, exploring the possibility of Mother Sphere’s retaliation after the events of the original game.
- Dive deeper into Mother Sphere, Adam/Raphael Marks, and pose the question of who is going to inherit humanity’s future.
Considering that the Nier series is one of the major inspirations for the studio, and given that we already have established a post-apocalyptic Earth, a free-for-all of former humans, androids, failed “new humans,” and rogue AI, Stellar Blade 2 could very well go into the existentialist drama with philosophical undertones while still being as flashy and fan-servicy as the first one.
We expect time in the relatively peaceful hubs to be more meaningful, and not just a location to grab the next mission. Cutscenes that have the characters actually digest and sit with consequences. A battle system that expands on the state Eve reached at the end of Stellar Blade: please, no more zeroing of the character’s power in the sequel. It’s tiring and narratively incoherent.
But the most important answer we’re looking for is the one Stellar Blade consciously dodged: what kind of future is Eve actually fighting for?
Right now, all we know is that Shift Up is actively hiring competent people to bring their enhanced vision of the sequel to life. Whether this means that we’ll get Stellar Blade 2 on PS5, Xbox Series, PC, and possibly even Switch 2 on release, will come down to how confident the studio is, having sold more than 3 million copies, and how persuasive Sony is with their console exclusivity.
