Game Developers Admit Fear of Players’ Skills During Demo Play

Before arriving on PS5 on April 26, Shift Up made a Stellar Blade demo available last month. This turns out to be a real success with players. A research firm even notices that it surpasses one of the biggest behemoths of the machine.

Prepare for the arrival of Stellar Blade on PlayStation 5

Troubled developers…

It is according to an analysis by the aptly named Ampere Analysis firm that we know today that the demo was very popular. Attracting up more 690,000 daily usersit even comes to surpass that of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, which had managed to bring back a peak of 380,000 daily active users. Following this revelation, the developers spoke out on X (formerly Twitter).

We are very grateful for your love for our game. To fully enjoy the main game, we ask that you take it easy with the demo. More than 50 hours of play on the demo… We're scared! – Shift Up (to X)

Building on this popularity, the studio in charge of the game, Shift Up, recently told South Korean media Ruluweb that the title would receive a New Game Plus mode after its release and that he does not reject the idea of ​​DLC.

…and realistic analysts

If the results of the Ampere Analysis survey are striking, according to Louise Woolridge who leads the study, these figures are not really representative of final sales.

The hype around Stellar Blade – largely focused on its character models – may have led to excessive interest in the demo, and the conversion rate to paying users at launch may be lower than what we saw for its competitors – Louise Woolridge (Ampere Analysis)

According to her, despite some similarities in genre, style, and therefore potential audience, Stellar Blade And FF7 Rebirth represent quite different business cases. Fact, “Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth is based on “a well-established classic” with a deep-rooted fandom,” adding that “this is a sequel rather than a standalone game. It is therefore unlikely that so many demo players were attracted simply by curiosity or hype, and the conversion in this case will probably be more predictable and warmer.''

Regarding Stellar Blade, the game introduces a brand new license with no pre-existing fandommaking “its performances much more difficult to project” according to the analyst. If the sales of the final game still raise a lot of questions, Hyung-Tae Kim, director of Stellar Blade, affirms wanting to prepare the best possible release for the title. He also reassures players, specifying that the game “does not require 'no additional expense of which players are unaware, other than the cost of purchasing the package”. If you want to learn more about the game, and in particular how its director explains not wanting advice, discover our dedicated article, otherwise, Stellar Blade East expected for April 26 on PS5.