Stellar Blade: Blood Rain’s AI music video should be viewed with “understanding in mind”, says studio boss
Shift Up CEO Kim Hyung Tae has defended the studio's use of an AI-generated music video promoting Stellar Blade: Blood Rain, after players criticised its poor quality on social media. The video, posted to the official Shift Up YouTube channel in late July, shows protagonist EVIE singing an original song titled "Wanna be in Love", but drew mockery for nonsensical lyrics, graphical warping and an unflattering blur filter, becoming a talking point about the current limitations of AI-generated content.
Responding directly to a critical user on X, Kim stressed that EVIE herself was hand-crafted by artists and modellers over more than a year, and that the AI was merely rendering the character using that existing work rather than creating her from nothing. This aligns with comments he made earlier in the year describing AI as "essential" for competing with Chinese studios, which he said can pour 1,000 to 2,000 staff into a single game compared with Shift Up's roughly 150, given that 80% of the company's revenue comes from overseas markets. Stellar Blade: Blood Rain remains without a confirmed release date, though it is expected sometime in 2027.
In short
- Shift Up CEO defends criticised AI music video for Stellar Blade: Blood Rain
- He says AI only renders EVIE, who was designed by human artists
- CEO calls AI "essential" to compete with better-resourced Chinese studios
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The character EVIE represents a year of human artistry; using AI to render that existing creation is fundamentally different from replacing human creators. For a 150-person studio competing against Chinese companies with 1000-2000 staff, such tools represent practical necessity rather than luxury. The studio prioritised investment in core game development; AI handles supplementary promotional content, a reasonable allocation of limited resources.
The case against
Quality standards shouldn't be compromised simply because a studio lacks resources; audiences rightfully expect professional output from any official release. The broader concern is that normalising AI-generated content in place of human creators displaces workers and creates a two-tier system where only well-funded studios deliver polished work. Asking fans to view poor-quality work with understanding shifts responsibility from the studio to the audience rather than incentivising quality improvement.
Explained simply
Shift Up is a South Korean game studio best known for Stellar Blade, an action game starring a character called EVIE. Its planned follow-up, Stellar Blade: Blood Rain, has no confirmed release date and is expected in 2027.
The studio has used artificial intelligence to make a promotional music video featuring EVIE, prompting debate about the quality and role of AI-generated material. Shift Up chief executive Kim Hyung Tae says artists and modellers spent more than a year creating EVIE, and that AI was used to render her in the video.
Kim has also described AI as important to helping Shift Up compete with larger Chinese studios, which he says can assign far more staff to a game. The discussion reflects wider questions about how game studios use AI alongside artists’ work.
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