Creator Of Blockbuster Game ‘Goddess Of Victory: Nikke' Joins Ranks Of Korea's 50 Richest

Kim Hyung-tae (center), attends the company's listing ceremony at the Korea Exchange (KRX) in Seoul on July 11, 2024.
This story is part of Forbes' coverage of Korea's Richest 2025. See the full list here.
The $320 million IPO last July of online games developer Shift Up, Korea's second-largest listing of 2024, made its founder and chairman Kim Hyung-tae a billionaire.
Though Tencent-backed Shift Up's shares have fallen more than a third since and Kim's net worth has shrunk to $725 million, that still earns him a debut spot in the ranks of the country's wealthiest.
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A former video game artist, Kim designed Blade & Soul, a top-selling game of fellow listee Kim Taek-jin's NCSoft, where he worked for eight years. He started Shift Up in 2013 and nine years later launched his own blockbuster title, Goddess of Victory: Nikke, a third-person shooter and role-playing game with anime-style graphics.
Another global hit was Stellar Blade. Launched last year, it achieved the highest user score (9.2) for a Sony PlayStation 5 game on review aggregator Metacritic.
In 2024, Shift Up's revenue rose by a third to 224 billion won ($152 million), while net income increased 39% to 148 billion won. Next up is a Chinese version of Goddess of Victory: Nikke, which has already garnered 5 million preregistrations.

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Analysis: Business model of Asia's top private equity fund questioned

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Tencent Cloud Empowers Ryde to Elevate In-App Communication in Southeast Asia

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Media Contact Melody Huang Tencent Cloud [email protected] Andy Miu Current Global [email protected] +852 2533 9908 Media Team Ryde Group Ltd [email protected] Investor Relations Ryde Group Ltd [email protected] FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects, as well as any other statements regarding matters that are not historical facts, may constitute 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to the expected trading commencement and closing dates. The words 'anticipate,' 'believe,' 'continue,' 'could,' 'estimate,' 'expect,' 'intend,' 'may,' 'plan,' 'potential,' 'predict,' 'project,' 'should,' 'target,' 'will,' 'would' and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof, and Ryde Group Ltd specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. SOURCE: Ryde Group press release

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