Shift Up CEO Kim Hyung Tae has publicly defended an AI-generated music video promoting the upcoming sequel Stellar Blade: Blood Rain, after it drew heavy criticism from players. The video, released on 31 July, features protagonist Evie singing and dancing to a pop song, but shows typical hallmarks of AI generation such as garbled text, inconsistent character models and an airbrushed appearance, prompting fans to accuse the studio of undermining its own artists' work.

Kim argued on X that the AI had not created Evie from scratch, but had merely rendered her using character data and designs built over more than a year by the studio's artists and modellers, asking fans to view the video "with that understanding in mind." The explanation failed to reassure critics, with several arguing that the AI output distorts Evie's appearance and risks damaging the brand and the perceived quality of the developers' genuine work, even on a project that has otherwise been highly anticipated. The video promotes the game rather than being taken from it, though Kim has previously cited AI as a way for Shift Up to compete with better-resourced Chinese studios.