Shift Up

Profile narrative

Shift Up is a South Korean video game development studio headquartered in Seoul that develops and publishes games for mobile, PC, and console platforms. Founded in 2013 by industry veteran Kim Hyung-tae, the company has grown from a mobile-focused developer into a multi-platform studio with a global publishing footprint. The company is best known for Goddess of Victory: NIKKE, a third-person shooter RPG with gacha mechanics that operates globally across iOS, Android, and Windows via a dedicated PC launcher. Shift Up's portfolio also includes the earlier mobile title Destiny Child and the PlayStation 5 action game Stellar Blade, which was published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The studio has built its reputation on a distinctive anime-inspired visual style and character-driven design philosophy that carries across its disparate projects.

On 27 September 2026, Shift Up disclosed that the NIKKE PC launcher had been compromised through malicious modification of its JavaScript files, resulting in the distribution of remote-access malware to players who downloaded the client. The injected code was designed to exfiltrate authentication credentials and cryptocurrency wallet data from affected systems, representing a targeted supply chain attack on the game's distribution infrastructure. Shift Up confirmed the breach publicly and issued a clean launcher update on 4 November 2026 to eliminate the malicious components and secure the delivery pipeline. The incident highlighted the risks associated with client-side update mechanisms in live-service games and joined a pattern of similar compromises affecting other major game launchers in recent years. The developer continues to operate its live titles while implementing additional safeguards to prevent recurrence of such distribution-channel attacks.

Incidents

0 incidents linked to this organisation.