Shift Up under fire for making new Nikke quality-of-life features exclusive to China

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Controversy swirls around Developer Shift Up as the international community questions their actions regarding Goddess of Victory: Nikke, a popular gacha shooter game. The issue stems from noticeable disparities between the global edition and the Chinese version that launched on May 22, 2025.

As a passionate gamer, I can’t help but notice that the Chinese version of this game boasts some unique character outfits that we don’t have in my region, which is quite exciting! However, it’s not just about the fancy costumes; there are also new, quality-of-life improvements that have been introduced. Unfortunately, these enhancements have been region-locked, causing a stir among players who feel it’s unfair to withhold such improvements from parts of the global playerbase without a valid explanation. I, for one, am hoping for a more inclusive gaming experience for all!

In their latest developer update, Shift Up addressed the criticism, but the comments made by Nikke’s director, Yoo Hyung-seok, didn’t seem to soothe the storm of opinions.

He acknowledged that some might wonder why certain new costumes and handy features are debuting only in China, and he empathized with those sentiments. However, he was confident that each version, China and Global, would evolve separately under distinct situations and eventually, their differences would add value to one another. For the time being, he asked for understanding as they continue to work on improving both versions.

Given our distinct operating conditions, variations in updates are unavoidable, but rest assured, we’ll provide feedback and guidance along the way, helping us converge towards a brighter future for both versions. Firstly, we’re focusing on enhancements in loading speed, with multiple global releases and improvements that will be detailed in upcoming developer updates. We remain dedicated to bolstering the performance of the global version, and we’ll persist in our efforts to fortify both versions simultaneously.

Essentially, players understood this reply as a dismissive ‘handle it’ and remained quite disgruntled by the whole situation.

In a favorable financial statement, Shift Up has disclosed that they are developing a follow-up to the Stellar Blade series, aiming for a PC release soon. This new version may even feature a collaboration between Stellar Blade and Nikke in both games, which unfortunately makes the current disagreement particularly inconvenient.

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2025-05-26 17:16