Shift Up CEO wins Presidential Commendation for Goddess of Victory: Nikke and Stellar Blade

• Hyung-tae Kim won a Presidential Commendation for his impact on the Korean games industry.
• The award was given on December 10th, 2025.

Shift Up CEO Hyung-tae Kim has been awarded a Presidential Commendation for his impact on the Korean games industry.

A high level of award in the country, the commendation was given during the Korean Content Awards on December 10th, 2025. The event took place in Seoul and was hosted by South Korea’s Ministry for Culture, Sports, and Tourism.

As reported by Daum, and translated by Automaton, Kim was celebrated for his contribution to the development of Korea’s domestic games industry, especially through his work on Shift Up’s latest games Goddess of Victory: Nikke and Stellar Blade.

Victory across platforms

Shift Up launched Goddess of Victory: Nikke in November 2022 to major success, surpassing $500 million in gross player spending during its first year and continuing to drive revenue years later. Ongoing success had led to increasing investments from Tencent and, early in 2025, the mobile gacha title reached the highly coveted $1 billion milestone.

Following the release of Goddess of Victory: Nikke on mobile, Shift Up launched the title on PC in 2023 and debuted its first console game Stellar Blade in 2024.

At the Korean Content Awards, Kim noted that a Stellar Blade sequel is in development and that a new title, Project Spirits, is in the works for multiple platforms.

"This Presidential Commendation is thanks to the development team and fans who believed in and supported Shift Up," he said.

"We will continue to do our utmost to further showcase the competitiveness of Korean games on the global stage."