Phantom Blade Zero received an AAA project budget, retaining the spirit of indie games

Phantom Blade Zero is being created with the budget of a big game, and according to the head of S-Game studio, the team has maintained an independent approach and willingness to take risks.

Phantom Blade Zero has the budget of a full-fledged AAA game, although the head of S-Game studio claims that the team has maintained an independent approach to development and a willingness to take risks.

Soulframe (Liang Qiwei), the head of the Chinese studio and creator of the series, spoke in an interview about the transition from mobile games to a large-scale action game on Unreal Engine 5 for PC and PS5. The team had to learn new skills, workflows, and technical solutions from scratch. Other Chinese companies that previously worked for Western and Japanese publishers helped them with this.

Some key tasks, including the creation of the final boss and the opening scene, were entrusted to young specialists who had just graduated and had no experience working on such large-scale projects. The studio had to experiment and find its own methods.

According to Soulframe, the independent spirit is defined not by the budget, but by the willingness to go beyond conventional boundaries.

Phantom Blade Zero will be released on PC and PlayStation 5 on October 29, 2026.