Game design and development studio SHIFT UP eyes IPO

SHIFT UP Corp., known for its subculture games, is eyeing an initial public offering (IPO.) 

The game design and development studio confirmed the decision internally on Sunday, those familiar with the development told The Korea Economic Daily. 

Star game developer Kim Hyung-tae founded the company in December 2013, buoyed by the success of The War of Genesis and Blade & Soul. 

Despite being a relatively new company, SHIFT UP already has a hit game – Destiny Child published in 2016. 

The game developer received investment from a number of Seoul-based venture capital firms last July, namely IMM Investment and Smilegate Investment. Its corporate value exceeds 1 trillion won ($761 million.)

The IPO decision comes on the back of the success of its latest game titled Goddess of Victory: Nikke. 

Nikke is a third-person shooting game that was released globally earlier this month. The role-playing game (RPG) is free-to-play and uses a gacha (toy vending machine) game system for monetization.

Tencent affiliate Level Infinite is the publisher. 

The game reached the No.1 spot by revenue on the App Store and Google Play in South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, beating other popular games such as Lineage, Odin Valhalla, and Hit2. 

“We saw better-than-expected results globally and even in the United States where the genre is not as popular,” a SHIFT UP employee said.

Another reason for the IPO can be attributed to the bullish outlook on Stellar Blade, which is set to be published next year and will be exclusively available on PlayStation 5 consoles. 

During the last year's G-Star press conference, Kim said his company will prepare for an IPO around the Nikke launch.

Write to Seung-Woo Lee at leeswoo@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.