Stellar Blade's buxom heroine Eve is coming back for another adventure, and this time she'll be on her own.
The first Stellar Blade landed with an 81 on Metacritic along with a 9.1 user score, so it's been received well across the board in varying degrees. It was published by PlayStation and was a timed exclusive for the console, but that will change for the next game.
Developer Shift Up confirmed today that "development of the next title is progressing smoothly, on track to meet our targeted quality standards," and that the game will be self-published by the studio.
"Notably, starting with this next title, Shift Up will transition to a first-party service model," the company said in its latest earnings call. "This will allow us to lead marketing strategies that fully reflect the distinctive identity of the IP, and we expect to communicate the unique appeal of its universe to players more directly and effectively."
I'm not 100 percent sure what this means, but it sounds as though the company didn't agree with the game's marketing with PlayStation in tow. Self-publishing allows for more freedom and the ability to launch on all platforms, obviously, but I am curious what the studio thinks it can do better this time around.
"Building on the strong fandom and evergreen IP status established by the first, we are formulating an optimal go-to-market strategy designed to maximize sales and reach a broad global audience from day one," Shift Up said.
I played a few hours of Stellar Blade, and it never caught on with me to keep going, but I did enjoy its combat from the outset. The conversation around the title always seems to lead to Eve's sexy design and outfits, so I can only wonder if that's the "distinctive identity" the company is referring to in its upcoming change in marketing strategy.
"With three key tailwinds — high-quality self-publishing capabilities, a sales maximization strategy, and a proven IP fanbase — we are confident the next title will deliver meaningfully improved results compared to its predecessor," Shift Up said.
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