Stellar Blade interview: dev on bringing the game to Nintendo Switch 2, adoration for Zelda: Breath of the Wild, more
Posted on September 6, 2026 by Brian(@NE_Brian)
in Interviews, Switch 2
Another big Nintendo Switch 2 port is on the horizon with Stellar Blade: Complete Edition, and we recently were able to speak with Shift Up’s DongKi Lee, CTO and technical director, to learn more about the project.
Stellar Blade has been appearing on different platforms since 2024. Now with the Switch 2 version, Nintendo fans will be able to try out the action title, which features a ton of content and is offering some features specific to the console.
During out discussion, we talked about bringing Stellar Blade to Nintendo Switch 2 including technical details, how the game is using the system’s features, and more. We also touched on a couple of other topics, which led Lee to talk about his adoration for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
You can read our full discussion below.
What can you share about how the Switch 2 version came to be? What made the studio interested in playing and pulling the game?
Stellar Blade first came out in 2024 on PlayStation 5 and then a year later in 2025 on PC. During that one-year gap, a lot of content was updated. Like we mentioned before, we have about 126 costumes and then we have two DLCs, NieR: Automata DLC and the Goddess of Victory: Nikke DLC as well as various seasonal content and also the boss challenge. We wanted Switch players to also be able to enjoy all of this. All of this content that has been updated will be offered on Switch 2 as one big package.
We talked a little bit about it during the gameplay demo, but the team really focused on making sure the experience coming over from PS5 to Switch 2 felt the same and that there wasn’t a drop off. Even still, did the team need to make any changes at all or any compromises so that the game ran at a very good level on Switch 2?
Each device or each platform has its own specs, so the game needs to be optimized according to that, even though the player will be experiencing the exact same gameplay. What needed to be changed or adjusted was, for example, the memory or the whole logic or the I/O speed. All of this needed to be optimized for Switch 2, so that’s one thing that we had to work on.
Can you confirm what the team is targeting in terms of frame rate and resolution on Switch 2 and is DLSS being used?
“So we targeted 60 frames per second in both handheld mode and docked mode. And actually, one unique method that we use is that, as you are very well aware, Switch 2 supports Nvidia’s DLSS. We use that to upscale, but it doesn’t support… it doesn’t have any features for frame generation.
What we did was we take AMD’s FSR 3.1 for PC and used the feature called frame interpolation to achieve the target for 60 frames per second. We use DLSS for upscaling, and then took the result we got and used frame interpolation from FSR 3.1 to be able to target 60 frames per second.
Also, it was important to have even latency for players. We have 30 frames per second to have it even and then use interpolation – a frame interpolation – for targeting 60.
Note: information about resolution can be found here.
This is your first time working with a Nintendo Switch 2 hardware. What are your thoughts on it compared to working on platforms like PS5?
Working on all different platforms, the dev team always learns a lot. So for Switch 2, what was different was that it has both the handheld mode and docked mode. You are able to switch back and forth between these two modes. That’s the beauty of this console.
Also, we wanted to find the right balance of offering the right expression, in either mode, while still maintaining performance. Switch 2 really allowed us to do that, so we were able to find that right balance.
Shift Up never worked with Nintendo until now. What’s it been like working with the company?
It’s actually been very smooth and positive. We were working with Nintendo and it’s our first time porting for Switch 2, so we got a lot of help and that really helped us.
So far it’s been announced that the game will support motion controls on Switch 2. Are there any other features from the console that you’re going to be incorporating into this port? Like motion controls, for example?
Yes, actually, you will get to experience a few features like you saw when you were doing the puzzle, you can touch the screen. Also, in the game, there’s a TPS mode where Eve also uses a gun as part of her weapon, so when you’re doing that, you are able to aim with that gun using the gyro mode. You can aim properly, or you can do that with mouse control as well.
Also, as part of the sub-content, there’s fishing. So Eve goes fishing. When you are trying to lift up the fish, you could also use that gyro mode to kind of like lift up the fish.
Are there any plans for a physical release?
We are not revealing information on that just yet, but it’s coming up very shortly, so stay tuned.
If I can ask a personal question, what game inspired you to become a game developer?
Rather than a game that made me want to become a developer, actually, one of my favorite games of all time is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of Wild and I played that on Switch. So I was already a game developer when I played that. But then playing that game, it made me really feel like, “Oh, I really want to give it a try for console games.”
Before that I mostly worked on MMORPGs or PC games or mobile games. Playing Zelda on Switch, it made me think, “Oh yeah, this is the game experience that I knew and felt as a kid when I was young. I definitely want to work on a console game.” That kind of worked from there and then that led me to work on Stellar Blade.
Have any elements or aspects of South Korean culture influenced Shift Up when developing the Stellar Blade games?
Well, actually, Shift Up’s DNA already has that element because of games like Goddess of Victory: Nikke, which is our mobile game, it’s a very… it really, truly shows that kind of a subculture element very well in a very great way. So I guess that’s already part of our development DNA. So yeah, we’re actually pretty good at that. It’s already been a part of it.
Of course, even with Stellar Blade and Nikke, they’re not exactly the same in terms of visuals, but still.
Stellar Blade is a third-person action game and seemingly its sequel is too. Are there other genres that Shift Up would be interested in exploring in the future or different styles of game?
I guess that moment might come one day when we want to explore other genres. But right now the Stellar Blade dev team is working on the sequel, Blood Rain, so we’re really focusing on how we can recreate that experience for our fans.
I guess that’s what we’re focused on. We haven’t exactly thought about it yet. I guess maybe down the road later in the future that might come one day.
Stellar Blade is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 later in 2026. You can see the game in action here.
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