This story is part of Forbes’ report on South Korea’s richest 2025. See the full list here.

The second-biggest list change in 2024 for the $320 million IPO online game developer last July made its founder and chairman Kim Hyung-Tae a billionaire.

Although Tencent-backed Shift UP shares have fallen by a third since then, and Kim's net worth has shrunk to $725 million, it still earned him a debut among the richest stocks in the country.

Kim was a former video game artist Wesign Blade & Soul, a best-selling Listee Kim Taek-Jin's Ncsoft game where he worked for eight years. He started moving in 2013 and launched his own blockbuster nine years later Goddess of Victory: Nickthird-person shooter and role-playing game with anime-style graphics.

Another global hottest Star blade. Launched last year, it received the highest user score (9.2) for the Sony PlayStation 5 game on the Review Collection Elements Group.

Shift UP's revenue grew by one-third to 224 billion won ($152 million) in 2024, while net income increased by 39% to 148 million won. Next is the Chinese version Goddess of Victory: Nickhas received 5 million pre-bets.