Stellar Blade Developer Shift Up’s Stock Jumps in South Korea After $320 million IPO

Game developer, Shift Up Corp.’s stock surged up to 49% on its debut trading day in South Korea following an initial public offering (IPO) that raised 435 billion won or around $320 million. This marks the largest IPO for a gaming company in nearly three years in the country.

Shift Up, known for developing Stellar Blade and Goddess of Victory: Nikke, previously applied for listing over 58 million shares on the Korea Stock Exchange. Hyung-Tae Kim founded Shift Up in December 2013 and will remain as the company’s largest holder after the listing. The company, which has China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd. as its second-largest holder, sold nearly 7.3 million shares at 60,000 won each, the top of a marketed range.

Lee Jieun, an analyst at Daishin Securities Co., a leading financial services provider in Korea, said that there is ample room for the stock to rise after the IPO. She mentioned that the company stands out due to its intellectual property, diversified platforms, and high success ratio.

Shift Up’s IPO is the second-largest in South Korea this year, behind HD Hyundai Marine Solution Co.’s $553 million offering in the second quarter. As of recent information from Bloomberg, Seoul trading debuts of IPOs of at least $300 million during the past five years ended their first session 62% higher on average.

According to the terms of the deal, the Seoul-based company intends to use the proceeds from the IPO to diversify its game portfolios. The company reported a profit of 107 billion won or $77 million last year, a significant turnaround from a loss of 7.1 billion won or $5 million in 2022.

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