Stellar Blade Developer Sued for Copyright Infringement

Shift Up, the Korean dev behind Stellar Blade, is in trouble again—this time for an alleged copyright violation. After the game’s hyped release on PlayStation, which was mostly well-received (despite the drama surrounding its launch), it seems the spotlight isn’t fading any time soon. Now, the company faces a lawsuit no one saw coming.

In Stellar Blade, players take on the role of Eve, fighting to reclaim a ruined Earth from alien invaders. It’s been Shift Up’s most successful title yet, selling over 1 million copies within just two months. Not too shabby. Before this, they made games like Goddess of Victory: Nikke, which also had a futuristic setting but didn’t explode quite like Stellar Blade did.

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Now here’s where things get messy. A small film company based in Louisiana—yes, Louisiana—is suing Shift Up over the game’s name. The company, Stellarblade LLC, has been around since 2006 and claims the game has pretty much driven them into “digital obscurity.” Apparently, their whole livelihood is on the line, according to their founder, Griffiths Chamber Mehaffey. The guy’s got some bold demands, too.

Mehaffey wants Sony and Shift Up to hand over everything with the Stellar Blade name on it and destroy it. You read that right—destroy it. Pretty wild, right? Considering that all he’s got on paper is a domain name, the chances of that happening are… let’s say, slim. But the lawsuit could still force the game to change its name, which is not unheard of, especially with these name battles in the industry.

Funny enough, Stellar Blade used to be called Project EVE until it rebranded at PlayStation’s State of Play in 2022. So, this lawsuit might’ve been brewing ever since. Mehaffey claims that both Sony and Shift Up knew about his rights over the Stellar Blade name, which could become a sticking point if this heads to court.

The demand for compensation is probably more realistic than getting everything burned, but either way, this legal mess could shake things up for Shift Up’s biggest hit. With the studio pushing out DLC and teasing a PC port, they’re clearly not slowing down on expanding the game’s world. But this lawsuit? It’s definitely a bump in the road, and one that could get even more interesting as it develops.