It turns out that the new PS5-exclusive action game Stellar Blade includes a nod to legendary Korean game developer Jake Song, with an NPC that uses his likeness.
Song is best known for his work within the MMORPG genre, notably serving as the designer for Lineage, which launched in 1998. While Lineage's North American servers shut down back in 2011, it's still alive and kicking elsewhere, making it one of the longest running MMORPGs of all time. "Once again, we are deeply grateful to him," the official Stellar Blade Twitter account writes, confirming Song's appearance, along with an image of him stood alongside his NPC in-game.
Jake Song, the legendary Korean game developer behind the world's longest servicing MMORPG, made an appearance in our game. Once again, we are deeply grateful to him.😊#StellarBlade #PS5 #JakeSong pic.twitter.com/3zTvz6ordXMay 2, 2024
While Shift Up's tweet announcing Song's cameo appearance praises his creation, Lineage, as the longest running MMORPG, worldwide, this isn't quite the case, as a number of rivals, including 1997's Tibia and Ultima Online, and 1996's Meridian 59, are slightly older. Even so, Song's impact on the MMORPG genre has been enormous – he founded the studio XL Games in 2003 before going on to direct 2013's ArcheAge, and is currently working on a sequel, ArcheAge 2. Needless to say, he's definitely earned the shout-out in Stellar Blade.
Although Song's appearance isn't exactly a collaboration between Stellar Blade and Lineage, Shift Up has already confirmed that it plans to deliver "a very high-quality crossover collaboration" between the studio's action game and its mobile game, Goddess of Victory: Nikke. Stellar Blade director Kim Hyung-tae didn't elaborate on when this is planned to release, other than "at the right timing," but he previously stated that Shift Up won't charge for any post-launch DLC unless "we create collaboration costumes with another company's IP." With that in mind, hopefully fans won't have to spend much extra on any additional content planned for Stellar Blade in the future.
If you're just getting started in Shift Up's latest action game, be sure to check out our top 10 Stellar Blade tips and tricks to master the sword.
