Stellar Blade’s SHIFT UP have officially acquired Shinji Mikami’s new studio UNBOUND

Recently, we saw an increased amount of activity from brand new studio UNBOUND – a team founded by industry legend Shinji Mikami of Resident Evil fame. While details surrounding Mikami’s new endeavour remain light, studio SHIFT UP (the team behind the excellent Stellar Blade) have officially announced that they have acquired the studio as part of a brand new partnership.

Making the surprise announcement via a teaser video (and expanded upon via a press release), SHIFT UP CEO Hyung-Tae Kim revealed that they have “completed the acquisition of Japanese game developer UNBOUND Inc. by acquiring all of its shares.”

While talk surrounding studio acquisitions in today’s day and age does come with some concern (especially with publishers being so trigger-happy to shut down studios), a partnership between SHIFT UP and UNBOUND could serve to benefit both companies.

As mentioned, SHIFT UP is known best for having created the PlayStation 5 exclusive Stellar Blade, however the team have also seen long-term success through a number of their gacha endeavours (most notably the Nikke series).

Given that SHIFT UP is a relatively small and new publisher, such an acquisition – serving more as a partnership – could benefit both teams massively. Unfortunately, we still know very little regarding Mikami’s next project, with the only details shared so far being that it is “developing original PC and console-based IPs targeting the global market”. Here’s to hoping that this latest acquisition proves to be a net-positive across the board.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this announcement? Is SHIFT UP a good home for Mikami and co? Let us know your thoughts down below.

Become a Patron!