Shift Up's AI-generated Stellar Blade: Blood Rain music video triggers massive backlash

Shift Up published an AI-generated K-pop music video on July 31 promoting Stellar Blade: Blood Rain, and the reception has been brutal. The video, titled Wanna be in Love feat. Evie, shows protagonist Evie singing and dancing through the game's dystopian cyberpunk city — and it's immediately obvious it's AI-generated, complete with phasing outfits, inconsistent character models, nonsensical text, and an uncanny airbrushed sheen throughout.

The song itself is also AI-generated, featuring shrill computerised vocals that collapse into robotic noise during the chorus. The video ends with a mock behind-the-scenes segment showing Shift Up developers pretending to direct, do makeup for, and high-five Evie on set. The video description confirms AI involvement, and the end card credits Shift Up's A.I. Labs department, stating the video was "created using the game resource from Stellar Blade: Bloodrain and regenerated with AI support." CEO Kim Hyung-Tae promoted it on X, asking fans to share their thoughts — and they did. Comments ranged from "AI slop" and "absolute shame and disgrace to art" to concerns about whether the game itself will contain AI-generated cutscenes.

Kim responded on X, arguing that Evie was built "from head to toe" by Shift Up artists over more than a year of work, and that the AI was merely rendering her based on existing designs rather than generating her from scratch. That explanation landed poorly — fans pointed out that the AI visibly distorts Evie's appearance, undermining the very artistry Kim was trying to defend. The backlash is particularly sharp given that Shift Up is far from a cash-strapped indie: the studio's gacha game Nikke: Goddess of Victory consistently ranks among the top 10–20 earners in the gacha space globally, and Nikke is known for genuinely excellent music, including work from a long-time rhythm game composer on staff. Kim has previously argued that AI is an "essential tool" for competing with Chinese studios that field 1,000–2,000 developers against Shift Up's roughly 150, and South Korea as a whole is set to invest nearly $14 billion in AI infrastructure. He has also insisted AI won't cost jobs, but will let "one person perform the work of 100 people."

The community reaction on both YouTube and the Stellar Blade subreddit is overwhelmingly negative, with some fans saying their hype for Blood Rain has genuinely taken a hit. One Reddit commenter called it "a f***ing shame," adding that the CEO's AI obsession is "seriously bringing the whole thing down" despite the studio having the talent and budget to do better. Stellar Blade: Blood Rain has no release date yet, and this is the first major piece of marketing since the game's Summer Games Fest reveal — not the strongest start.