Shift Up CEO claims AI is essential for smaller nations competing with the developmental manpower of China and the US

The CEO of Shift Up, the studio behind Stellar Blade and Goddess of Victory: Nikke, believes countries like South Korea have no choice but to adopt AI technology if they wish to remain competitive with larger nations such as China and the US.

Addressing delegates at South Korea’s 2026 Economic Growth Strategy event, Hyung-tae Kim said that while a studio like Shift Up doesn’t have the staff to rival that of Chinese competitors, AI can help maximize headcount as well as safeguard jobs, as developers could become more valuable if they’re trained in AI tech.

“We devote around 150 people to a single game, but China puts in between 1,000 to 2,000,” Kim said, as reported by GameMeca, and picked up by Automaton (via machine translation).

While a hugely divisive topic, Kim believes that because countries like South Korea “lack the capacity to compete, both in terms of quality and volume of content,” making the most of generative AI could see one trained developer “perform the work of 100 people.”

In related news, Belgian games developer Larian Studios recently confirmed that there will be no generative AI used for concept art during the creation of the upcoming RPG Divinity. The assurances came after CEO and co-founder Swen Vincke sparked a backlash when he said the company had tried to incorporate AI into the creation of Divinity.

The studio CEO later clarified that it was not replacing concept artists with AI, adding that the company had used the technology “to explore things”.