Who makes Phantom Blade Zero?
S-GAME (Chinese: 灵游坊), based in Beijing. On Steam the developer is listed as "S-GAME Studio" and the publisher as "S-GAME Publishing", which is the same company. The studio was founded in 2011.
For S-GAME this is a big step. Soulframe Liang told RPG Site in December 2025 that Phantom Blade Zero is the studio's first big console game and its first aimed at the global market. Before that, S-GAME made mobile games for players in China.
How many people work at S-GAME?
The team has grown fast. According to Liang:
| When | Headcount | Where |
|---|---|---|
| June 2024 | about 50 | Beijing ("we don't want to get as big as 100 people") |
| December 2025 | 140 | Beijing (about 100, headquarters), Shanghai (20, motion capture and animators), Hong Kong (16, art team), Los Angeles (global publishing) |
In 2024 Liang told GamesBeat: "But we don't want to get as big as 100 people". A year and a half later it had 140.
Soulframe Liang, creator of the series
Soulframe Liang (real name Liang Qiwei, in Chinese 梁其伟) is the founder and CEO of S-GAME. On Phantom Blade Zero he is the director and producer, and in official letters he signs as "Creator of Phantom Blade Zero".
He trained as an architect: he studied at Tsinghua University in Beijing and then at Yale. On the PlayStation Blog he wrote that he made his first game alone in RPG Maker. It was his "escape" from the problems he faced during his studies. After returning to China he founded S-GAME to make more games.
Who publishes the game? Is it a Sony game?
S-GAME publishes the game itself, worldwide. A team in Los Angeles handles publishing outside China. There is no regional publisher.
It is not a Sony game. PlayStation has timed console exclusivity: the game can come to other consoles no earlier than 12 months after launch. On PC (Steam and Epic Games Store) it launches day one. Details: platforms, PS4, Xbox and Switch.
The PlayStation partnership started with an early pitch. Liang told PCGamesN (quoted by MP1st) that two of them walked into a PlayStation executive meeting with a "very rough mockup". Christian Svensson reportedly reacted: "Who are you? This is so impressive". The result: an invitation to the PlayStation Showcase in 2023. Polygon later called Phantom Blade Zero the surprise hit of that show.
Who funds S-GAME?
- ZhenFund: an early investor when the studio was founded in 2011.
- NetEase: backed the studio after financial trouble following Rain Blood Chronicles: Mirage. That is when S-GAME moved to mobile games. No amounts were disclosed.
- Tencent: bought a 25% stake in 2021. According to a memo from Liang quoted by KrASIA, the deal brought money and technical support without interfering with creative direction.
In 2021 the studio planned two Unreal Engine 5 games: Phantom Blade Zero and the space-themed Stellar Saga. Stellar Saga was shelved, and the whole studio focused on Phantom Blade Zero.
We found no reliable reports of S-GAME being sold or taken over by Sony or Tencent.
The series: from Rainblood to Phantom Blade
Phantom Blade Zero is the latest game in a series that started as Rainblood (雨血) and was later renamed Phantom Blade (影之刃).
| Year | Game | Platforms |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 (China) or 2010 (English version) | Rainblood: Town of Death | PC (Windows) |
| 2011 | Rainblood 2: City of Flame | PC (Windows) |
| 2013 | Rain Blood Chronicles: Mirage | PC (Windows), now on Steam |
| 2017 | Phantom Blade | mobile, China only |
| later (dates not confirmed) | Phantom Blade 2 and Phantom Blade 3 | mobile, China only |
| 2023 | Phantom Blade: Executioners | PS5, PS4, iOS, Android, PC (Steam, Epic) |
| 2026 | Phantom Blade Zero | PS5, PC (Steam, Epic) |
Rainblood: Town of Death is an RPG with turn-based combat and hand-drawn art that Liang made alone as a student. It lasted about 4 hours. According to KrASIA it got over 100,000 downloads in the first day and over 4 million later. The hero was already Soul, a betrayed warrior left with 64 days to live after using a forbidden technique (in Phantom Blade Zero he has 66).
The release year of Rainblood: Town of Death is disputed. KrASIA and Liang's 2024 letter say 2008 (Chinese version), while Liang on the PlayStation Blog in 2023 and the MobyGames database say 2010 (MobyGames: May 6, 2010). Most likely 2008 is the Chinese release and 2010 the English version.
Rainblood 2: City of Flame (December 2011) was the first game released as S-GAME. Rain Blood Chronicles: Mirage (2013) switched the genre from turn-based RPG to side-scrolling action.
Then came the mobile Phantom Blade games from 2017. Liang wrote that most of these games never released outside China, but the series built a fan base of over 20 million.
Phantom Blade: Executioners (November 2, 2023) is the first game in the series released worldwide: a free-to-play side-scrolling action game. RPG Site wrote that it tells Soul's backstory before Phantom Blade Zero. As of October 23, 2026 it is still in stores, and no shutdown has been announced.
Do you need to know the earlier games?
No. Liang answered this question for IGN in 2023: "Do you have to read The Hobbit before reading The Lord of the Rings? I don't think so, right?" He added that Executioners is developed by a separate team inside S-GAME.
On the PlayStation Blog Liang called Phantom Blade Zero the spiritual rebirth of the original Rainblood: the game is much bigger, moved from RPG Maker to Unreal Engine 5, but its core has not changed. The town of Pangzhen, where Soul's story began, returns. According to Wikipedia, the story is new, departs significantly from the earlier games and requires no knowledge of them.
Who Soul is and who you will meet (no spoilers): story and characters.
Where does "Zero" in the title come from?
According to Wikipedia, on November 22, 2016, at a concert celebrating the Rainblood anniversary, S-GAME announced that the series would be remade with an extended story. The Chinese working title was 影之刃Zero, later 影之刃零 ("零" means zero in Chinese).
Reveal and delay history
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| November 22, 2016 | Rainblood anniversary concert, announcement under a working title |
| 2017 | Start of the game plan, first concept art at ChinaJoy |
| 2021 | Tencent buys a 25% stake, decision to make a PC and console game |
| 2022 | Full-scale production |
| May 24, 2023 | Worldwide reveal at PlayStation Showcase |
| June 7, 2024 | "The Blade is Drawn" trailer at Summer Game Fest and a tour with a playable demo (Los Angeles, ChinaJoy, gamescom, Tokyo Game Show) |
| July 26, 2025 | S-PARTY 2025 showcase in Beijing |
| December 11, 2025 | The Game Awards: release date set for September 9, 2026 |
| June 2, 2026 | Launch delayed to October 29, 2026 |
| August 11, 2026 | Pre-orders open, Donnie Yen announced |
| August 17, 2026 | Dedicated State of Play for the game (about 20 minutes) |
| October 29, 2026 | Launch on PS5 and PC |
Liang announced the delay himself in a letter on X, right after the State of Play: "This was not an easy decision". The launch moved by 50 days. According to Inven Global, the studio wanted to improve character and environment models in the game instead of patching them after launch.
The game launches on October 29, 2026 at 02:00 GMT (03:00 CET). Times, editions and preload: release date and everything about the game.
Donnie Yen has been the game's Creative Consultant since 2023, but this was only revealed on August 11, 2026. He also plays Soul's father, Mó Yuan (face and motion capture).
Success before launch
- 3 million wishlists across all platforms: official account @pbzero_official, September 17, 2026.
- No. 1 on Steam's global top sellers one day after pre-orders opened (August 12, 2026).
- Liang after five days of pre-orders: sales "far exceeded expectations".
S-GAME has not shared how many copies have sold. Analysts estimated from about 300,000 (August 2026) to about 500,000 copies on Steam (October 2026), but these are estimates, not official figures.
Comparison with another Chinese hit: Phantom Blade Zero vs Black Myth: Wukong.
What does "kungfupunk" mean?
It is a name S-GAME came up with. In the store description of Executioners the studio says the art style is based on traditional Chinese painting with modern sharpness and fantasy elements: "'Kungfupunk' is the name we coined for this approach, not unlike steampunk and cyberpunk".
On the PS5 page, Phantom Blade Zero fuses traditional martial arts with punk fantasy: cold steel collides with mechanical prosthetics. The inspiration is the golden age of wuxia cinema. In Chinese, Liang uses "wuxiapunk" and "kungfupunk" interchangeably.
Kungfupunk is the style of the world, not a genre. On the genre: is Phantom Blade Zero a Soulslike.
FAQ
Who is the publisher of Phantom Blade Zero?
S-GAME, the same studio that develops it. On Steam the publisher is "S-GAME Publishing". A team in Los Angeles handles global publishing.
Is Phantom Blade Zero a Sony game?
No. It is developed and published by the Chinese studio S-GAME. PlayStation has timed console exclusivity and helped with promotion, but the game also launches on PC day one.
Do I need to play Rainblood or Executioners first?
No. Liang compared it to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings: you don't need one to understand the other. The story of Phantom Blade Zero is new.
Is the main character really called Soul?
Yes, Soul is his name. He was already the hero of the first Rainblood.
Is Phantom Blade Zero a Chinese game?
Yes. S-GAME is based in Beijing. According to GamingBolt, the game is licensed to launch in mainland China on the same day as worldwide.
