Stellar Blade studio is now 'considering' a PC release, and a sequel too
We called it back in 2022.
Stellar Blade was originally introduced in 2019 as Project Eve, after which it fell off our radar until 2021, when we said it looked like a cross between Nier and Bayonetta. A year later it got a new name—Stellar Blade—and became a PlayStation 5 exclusive, and that was pretty much that for us.
But it may not remain that way forever: Developer Shift Up said in its latest financial report, shared on Twitter by Okami13_ (via RPS) that it is now looking into a possible PC release.
The English-language wording of the Google-translated report is a bit wonky in spots, but it specifically notes the importance of the PC market: "The expansion of PC-based gaming platforms such as Steam and the Epic Games Store has made AAA titles more accessible to PC users, pushing them beyond the limitations of traditional console platforms."
Increasingly powerful PC hardware, meanwhile, has "allowed game developers to publish their games on both PC and console platforms, further increasing the audience for AAA titles."
There's nothing terribly new in any of that: Consoles are stratified into static "generations" while PCs are fluid, ever-evolving beasts, which keeps them on the cutting edge of technology. More simplistically, though, PC gaming is really popular, and Shift Up has big ambitions for Stellar Blade. Citing series like God of War and Final Fantasy, the report says "there are several precedents for AAA titles evolving into IP franchises by extending their lifespan through a series of high-quality sequels and maintaining a long-term revenue base. Accordingly, we are considering producing a PC version and sequel to [Stella Blade]."
I don't think anyone will be too surprised if and when it happens. We called a PC release likely when PS5 exclusivity was announced in 2022, and Sony has been leaning into the PC market much more heavily in recent years, most recently with Ghost of Tsushima, which looks set to be another major hit and further reinforcement of Sony's relatively new (and so far quite successful) multiplatform release strategy. Stellar Blade would seem to be a good fit for that: It's not a huge-name exclusive (a "tentpole title," as they're sometimes called) but despite some upset over a ridiculous clothing controversy, detailed by our friends at GamesRadar, it is by all reports quite a good game.