Why China is Stellar Blade’s Biggest Market at Launch
China Accounts for 58% of Stellar Blade’s PC Players at Release
According to estimations from reputable tracker Alinea Analytics, approximately 58% of Stellar Blade players on PC are in China.
Some other independent sources point to even higher numbers for the South-Korean made game, as is the case of this independent tracker, claiming 70%.
Regardless of the exact number, it seems safe to say the majority of gamers for the popular Shift Up title are indeed in China, as of the time of this writing.
The game reached over 180k concurrent players on Steam after launching on June 11, becoming the fastest Sony-published PC title to do so, and breaking the record for Sony-published single-player games on PC!
Stellar Blade was previously available as a PlayStation 5 exclusive since April 2024.
Recipe for Sucess
There are many reasons why Stellar Blade has become so popular in China. One of which is localization.
-The PC version added Chinese dubs, as opposed to the PS5 version that didn't have the option.
For Chinese gamers in particular, full localization is critical and can make all the difference on how a game is received by consumers.
-Stellar Blade does not have a publishing license for China (and likely never will due to its risqué content), however the game is easily accessible to Chinese gamers on Steam (this is the case with most PC and console games anyway).
-Even though the game is not legally licensed for distribution in Mainland China, Sony has been heavily promoting the game in its official marketing channels/platforms in the country since the game released on the PS5.
Promoting games and content that are not officially available in China has become common practice by Sony and a key strategy to expand its footprint in this gigantic market - as I explained before.
-Promoting unlicensed games (through visual marketing materials, mentions, streams, etc) is not illegal in China and is how most international games promote themselves in the country, in spite of not having a Publishing license (ISBN).
While Sony is the global publisher for Stellar Blade, even on the game’s Steam page we can see the remark noting it is not in China - pictured below.
-Stellar Blade being already a one-year-old hit and popular game worldwide made it an easily recognizable IP for Chinese consumers, even those who didn’t experience it before on PS5.
If you want to know more about market dynamics in China for unlicensed games and how they still manage to sell and be successful in the country, you can read this article I wrote before for GamesIndustry.biz, and this one.
Marketing Synergy
I think it’s important to point out how the PC release of Stellar Blade almost coincided with the release of NIKKE in China, which is another very popular game from Shift Up.
NIKKE launched in Mainland China on May 22, after being available worldwide for more than a year before that. The game was already very popular in the country, even without its official and licensed launch. I also previously wrote about that.
Furthermore, a NIKKE DLC was made available for Stellar Blade on the same day as the PC version released (June 11). It’s fair to say that marketing efforts and general hype for NIKKE in China worked in tandem to propel Stellar Blade’s PC release as well, even if not directly. Both games share a fairly similar art-direction, in particular with their hyper-sexualized female characters (not judging!), and presumably share a lot of the same target audience.
Are Publishers even Necessary in China?
Yes, of course they are.
Looking at the success of present and past unlicensed international games released in China, I’m afraid some people might be tempted to argue that non-Chinese devs and publishers do not need to worry about publishing efforts for China.
While a game can find a big audience in the country and profit without having a dedicated publisher for that market, there’s still a need to “market” the game: like with almost every game released, marketing is important and can make the whole difference between a title being successful, or ignored by consumers.
Discoverability is a major issue for most games released on PC/Steam in particular, due to the large number of titles made available daily.
Even without a Publishing License in China, a studio and/or its international publisher need to consider marketing their game on Chinese social media platforms, streaming channels, with local influencers, and so on.
Obviously, for a game like Stellar Blade, it’s all much easier. The IP was already a known factor among gamers due to its original PS5 release - public awareness was already there. For big/famous games, then yes, it is not unreasonable to consider that the “usual” publishing work is not necessary for success in China. Although, of course, localization at least remains paramount.
