Shenmue Series

I also want to add that I'm really happy that the industry has heard the plight of its fans! I hope you guys get the game you deserve after such a long wait!

Now, where is the HalfLife3 kickstarter?
 
Funny thing is, if this is indeed as shady as it sounds, i bet the bigger gaming sites won't talk about it much though, and neither will gamers care much.

If it had been MS though.....lol.
 
Wait wait... If you pay the kickstarter amount, don't you get the game for free?

If that's the case, then Topdawg, your argument would no longer make sense... You are basically "investing" in the outcome of this project, and traditionally, there's normally a sense of transparency or a deal of forthcoming shared about a project before you "invest".

I've only ever joined kickstarters that offered the final product on return for the initial investment.

Thank god I didn't get that $10k dinner with Yu. That extra for the game would have pissed me off. :p

*edit* Just checked out the packages! They seem pretty resonable. I really aren't comfortable with the quasi 1st party/indie placement at the moment.

I'm never going to buy the game (unless its nothing like the others), but I am worried that other companies (MS, I'm looking at you) are going to do this. I feel like we're paying to participate in a market research study, and we aren't being told.
 
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As a devout Shenmue fan, the prospect that a 3rd game is a kickstarter is more offensive than the game never coming into being.Go big budget or go home.

Plus its for windows and you know what MS is selling with W10 and how easy porting would be.

They are getting desperate with the way that donations have dropped off a cliff.

They exceeded their 2m goal in a day, the problem is as of this moment, there are only 45,109 backers...so even if 10 x that many people bought the game, it's half a million sales, which these days is a bomb.
 
So then if they do reach that goal, only to see the developers pick pocket again.

These people better wake up and for those fools that put their money, I have a bank account that need to kick start too. Here is my number.

444-4444-44-444-444.
 
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Will be interesting how much crowd funding they get before Sony opens their wallet.

The Kickstarter page says $3.6 million right now.

It started off with a bang getting $3 million in the first week, but in week two it dropped to about $500k worth of contributions.
 
Development of Shenmue 3 is going to be a soap opera through and through. This is a game that demands a AAA budget only to go down in flames as a huge money loser. That's Shenmue if they really want to be true to the franchise. Make a ambitious, niche game that raises the bar for everyone but is such a spectacular failure money wise no one goes near the franchise for another 20 years. Anything less is not Shenmue. These bulls*** stretch goals with an ambition limited by budget constraints is really a half assed attempt.
 
Development of Shenmue 3 is going to be a soap opera through and through. This is a game that demands a AAA budget only to go down in flames as huge money loser. That's Shenmue if they really want to be true to the franchise. Make a ambitious, niche game that raises the bar for everyone but is such a spectacular failure money wise no one goes near the franchise for another 20 years. Anything less is not Shenmue. These bulls*** stretch goals with an ambition limited by budget constraints is really a half assed attempt.
It'll be interesting what kind of final budget the game ends up with, and the type of game that is developed.

They've already said it'll be a digital download only, so going by that it very likely won't be a $60 download. Download only console games are almost always $30 or less, in which the quality/budget of these games usually doesn't contend with top notch full priced games.

We'll see.

The game isn't planned to release until fall 2017, and that was Yu's optimistic estimate. Chances are it'll be 2018. That's a long time to wait..... about 3 years.

By that time, there will already be rumours swirling around about the new Xbox and PS systems.
 
I dont think he has a problem understanding what Kickstarter is all about. Learn to read between the lines.

He's stating that traditionally, publishers just fund the entire project in situations like this. Usually they have enough money to do such a thing. In this case, a major corporation like Sony is using Kickstarter as a gauge as to how many people are interested in having this game developed, by using their own financing--which comes off as a wee bit odd.

Thank you. Not sure what he was getting so emotional about. I know god forbid anyone call in to question anything "good guy" Sony does. Just funny to me they are doing this through kick starter yet making a big deal about Sony supposedly "helping out". Whatever, i'll be getting it anyway when it drops.
 
My only question on Shemnue 3 is whether it will be the next Duke Nukem and never get made or the next Driv3r and suffer from being a total flop because it was made.
 
Development of Shenmue 3 is going to be a soap opera through and through. This is a game that demands a AAA budget only to go down in flames as a huge money loser. That's Shenmue if they really want to be true to the franchise. Make a ambitious, niche game that raises the bar for everyone but is such a spectacular failure money wise no one goes near the franchise for another 20 years. Anything less is not Shenmue. These bulls*** stretch goals with an ambition limited by budget constraints is really a half assed attempt.
It doesn't need a AAA budget at all. Even if it is something along the lines of Life is Strange, I will be happy with the outcome. It's a shame they are not handling the Kickstarter in the best way, but I feel confident that the game will get made and be at the least, a nice little story driven experience.
 
Update by Suzuki regarding the budget. While I don't think it clears up a ton because people want to know how much Sony is actually putting in, but I guess the statement is better than nothing. They must realize now how much the budget secrecy has hurt this kickstarter but I'm not sure if they can recover from it and hit that 10m.



There have been many questions concerning Shenmue 3’s budget and what outside sources will be added to the money collected through Kickstarter. I apologize for not having been more forthright in this area and would like to take this opportunity to help clarify the situation.

Ys Net and I have been putting in many long years trying to find a way to bring back a sequel that so many fans have waited so long for. After learning of Kickstarter, I knew it would be possible to get Shenmue 3 started. Wanting to make the best game possible, I also knew that I would have to look to more traditional means to obtain all the funds that would be needed to create the game I had envisioned.

Sony and Shibuya Productions have been wonderful partners because they believe in Shenmue and want to see the best for the fans and the game. Their investment in (and support of) Shenmue have helped to realize a sequel that will stand proud with its predecessors. While it is not business practice to discuss the specific details of such arrangements, I can say that with their assistance on the production and marketing end, and in Sony’s case with some publishing support as well, Ys Net is able to use more of the money we collect through Kickstarter purely for Shenmue 3’s development. It is also important to note that your funds are going strictly to Ys Net for development of Shenmue 3 – Sony and Shibuya Productions are not seeing a cent of your Kickstarter dollars.

The outpouring of support from all of you, the backers, has been so inspirational. I cannot thank you enough. Having reached our funding goal, I am excited to say that the Shenmue story will go on, and our journey with Ryo and Shenhua will continue. Fans will be able to enjoy the sequel they have waited so long for, and newcomers to the series will be introduced to a unique gaming experience.

Of course, like with any Kickstarter, additional funding will only help us make a better game. On top of everything Shenmue 3 will already bring, the Stretch Goals that I have laid out will add extra quests, events, and new gameplay systems that will make the game even more immersive and take the series to the next level. At the $5 million mark, there will be an all new gameplay feature I would be excited to be able to add to the Shenmue legacy. If we should make the $10 million Stretch Goal, a much larger, completely open world will be yours to explore.

Even if these Stretch Goals are not reached, Shenmue 3 will already be a sequel true to its name, and one we can all be proud of. It is my hope though, that together we can make this Shenmue just as revolutionary as the first two were.

I understand this statement may by late in coming. Going forward, we wish to be as open as possible concerning the game’s development. I would like to again ask for your cooperation and support in helping make Shenmue 3 the best that it can be.

Sincerely, Yu Suzuki
 
*edit* Just checked out the packages! They seem pretty resonable. I really aren't comfortable with the quasi 1st party/indie placement at the moment.

It's not first party..

Gio Corsi, Adam Boyes and some other people is running 'third party productions' wich is a branch of SCEA - wich help bring titles wich PS-gamers request much from third party to Playstation platforms.
It were started in 2013, they've allready brought us Borderlands for Vita, some localized games (like Yakuza announcements), and lots of other smaller stuff.

If you see in post number 19, here - People started requested Shenmue III, and it's one of the top requests..
Sony don't own the rights or have ownership to any of these games, but if some games is requested by the fans much at [HASHTAG]#Buildthelist[/HASHTAG] - they have people who's only job is to try to work with third party partners with not so much money, to make it so we gamers get our games on Playstation - even if they have to help financially, or with developement - without the devs having to sign away their ownership of the title.

So when Suzuki said he were going to launch the game on Kickstarter, Third Party Productions help out to make sure it also come on PS4, since it's one of the most requested games at [HASHTAG]#Buildthelist[/HASHTAG]. :)
 
Funny thing is, if this is indeed as shady as it sounds, i bet the bigger gaming sites won't talk about it much though, and neither will gamers care much.

If it had been MS though.....lol.

That was my thoughts as well.

If MS launched a Kickstarter like that, it'd be the end of the world. You think MS moneyhatting a game brought out the doomsayers? Who then didn't have s*** to say when Sony did the same. It'd be 2013tvtvtvtvDRM720p x 1000.

I pulled my money once I read that Sony was the one who actual pushed out this Kickstarter.
 
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If Sony was serious about bringing the game to market and using the kickstarter to finance the development then Shenmue of all games needed to cast as wide of a net as possible which means they should of worked out a deal before E3 that the X1 was included. Afterall that's where a large number of its fans are also at. Instead, the game's kickstarter campaign is smaller than it would be because it's caught up in the console wars.
 
Funny thing is, if this is indeed as shady as it sounds, i bet the bigger gaming sites won't talk about it much though, and neither will gamers care much.

If it had been MS though.....lol.
They'd be burned at the stake for it pretty much.
 
I really don't see this game selling well on Xbox. This is probably why they don't bother mentioning an Xbox port in their stretch goals.
 
I really don't see this game selling well on Xbox. This is probably why they don't bother mentioning an Xbox port in their stretch goals.

To be fair, it probably won't sell much no matter how many platforms it is on.
 
That was my thoughts as well.
If MS launched a Kickstarter like that, it'd be the end of the world. You think MS moneyhatting a game brought out the doomsayers? Who then didn't have s*** to say when Sony did the same. It'd be 2013tvtvtvtvDRM720p x 1000.
I pulled my money once I read that Sony was the one who actual pushed out this Kickstarter.

Either you're a victim of FUD - or you're a massive Sony-hateboy. :-/

You do realise that Adam Boyes in Sony stood on the E3-stage saying the following words:
'Kickstarter have brought many games to Playstation.. blabla some examples... then he followed up by saying:
This next kickstar Project, is not 'our' project, it's the developers own thing. - But since PS-gamers have been very vocal about getting this game, when the developer told us they were kickstarting the game - we wanted to highlight the project here on stage today'.. <== Not confusing at all in my opinion..
And then we got a trailer how the story of Shenmue were left incopmplete, wherever he went he were asked about the continuation of the story...
And then Suzuki saying that now they can continue it, and the fate of Shenmue were in 'Your hands now'
Yu Suzuki came onstage, said a few words, counted down the kickstarter-start,and then he went away, and Adam Boyes clapped for him and said to the attendence and Viewers; 'let's help Yu Suzuki make Shenmue 3 happen' as he went away'..
So this is clearly not a Sony-kickstarter, none of your money would have gone to Sony, if you decided to help bring Shenmue about. :p
 
Sony is putting forth money in bringing it to market. That money may not go into game development but it's still being spent. Then add the fact it's console exclusive which is fine as Sony is putting forth money. If the motivation is realizing the dream of Shenmue which was kind of presented at E3 then a game such as this should cast a wide of net as possible because it is a niche title. It needs the fans in all spaces particularly because it's getting funding by kickstarter. It's going to be a lesser game as a result because those fans in other spaces not supported don't have much motivation to donate. Seems like a special case such as this something could of been worked out because Shenmue needs all the help it gets.
 
Either you're a victim of FUD - or you're a massive Sony-hateboy. :-/

You do realise that Adam Boyes in Sony stood on the E3-stage saying the following words:
'Kickstarter have brought many games to Playstation.. blabla some examples... then he followed up by saying:
This next kickstar Project, is not 'our' project, it's the developers own thing. - But since PS-gamers have been very vocal about getting this game, when the developer told us they were kickstarting the game - we wanted to highlight the project here on stage today'.. <== Not confusing at all in my opinion..
And then we got a trailer how the story of Shenmue were left incopmplete, wherever he went he were asked about the continuation of the story...
And then Suzuki saying that now they can continue it, and the fate of Shenmue were in 'Your hands now'
Yu Suzuki came onstage, said a few words, counted down the kickstarter-start,and then he went away, and Adam Boyes clapped for him and said to the attendence and Viewers; 'let's help Yu Suzuki make Shenmue 3 happen' as he went away'..
So this is clearly not a Sony-kickstarter, none of your money would have gone to Sony, if you decided to help bring Shenmue about. :p

Maybe you're wrong on both?

I shouldn't feel uncomfortable pledging my own money and that would be the case whether it is Sony or MS. I have no problems pledging money to an individual or an indie studio or something similar, but once you throw a mega corporation into the mix, there is no reason for me to be there unless I just want a cheaper copy of the game. This game is going to be a Sony Third Party Production title according to Gio Corsi of Sony, it has already reached it's goal. They are the ones that put up the Kickstarter, though it started as an idea from Sega / Suzuki; they have already stated they are looking to do more Kickstarter projects this way.

My sole initial response was to kick in a little money to do my part to see a project succeed; it's already met it's goal AND Sony is infusing their own cash/resources. Whats the point in my money being there at this point?

Don't worry though, I won't tell you how to spend your money.

For the record, every project I've ever contributed money to on Kickstarter has been 100% independent projects; I even pulled money out of Bloodstained after it became apparent they were partnering with a Deep Silver.
 
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To be fair, it probably won't sell much no matter how many platforms it is on.
Why not? This game series has had a big fan base demanding the third game for several years. It's almost as big as the demand for the FFVII Remake.
 
Why not? This game series has had a big fan base demanding the third game for several years. It's almost as big as the demand for the FFVII Remake.

I have nothing concrete to go by, I'm just wondering what the signal to noise ratio is. Clearly there are fans waiting for a sequel, I'm just wondering if this is an extreme case of vocal minority making it seem like there is more of an audience than there actually is. It's just weird that the story that blew up the most at e3 was for a sequel to a game that we know for a fact not many people have played.

The only reason I question it is cause of Shenmue 2s sales. How many actual fans are there out there?

In the case of Final Fantasy VII, we know that game did well over 10 million on sales, spawned many subsequent games and media, Advent Children, and probably has the most recognizable characters in the series to date. And the franchise is still extremely relevant as far as popularity and fans go.

Not that I don't think there are Shenmue fans out there, it's just that the quantity is an unknown variable IMO. I see people going OMGOMGOMG and just wonder if they're just getting caught up in the hype or if they've actually played it and would legitimately buy a sequel.

Maybe in the meantime Sega will rerelease ports off the older games to maximize the games presence and get people up to speed on the franchise.
 
I really don't see this game selling well on Xbox. This is probably why they don't bother mentioning an Xbox port in their stretch goals.

Well II sold poorly but then it was stupid not to bring both games to Xbox. Which I'd the problem I see here. 3rd game in a series that hasn't seen a release in such a long time....
 
I have nothing concrete to go by, I'm just wondering what the signal to noise ratio is. Clearly there are fans waiting for a sequel, I'm just wondering if this is an extreme case of vocal minority making it seem like there is more of an audience than there actually is. It's just weird that the story that blew up the most at e3 was for a sequel to a game that we know for a fact not many people have played.

The only reason I question it is cause of Shenmue 2s sales. How many actual fans are there out there?

In the case of Final Fantasy VII, we know that game did well over 10 million on sales, spawned many subsequent games and media, Advent Children, and probably has the most recognizable characters in the series to date. And the franchise is still extremely relevant as far as popularity and fans go.

Not that I don't think there are Shenmue fans out there, it's just that the quantity is an unknown variable IMO. I see people going OMGOMGOMG and just wonder if they're just getting caught up in the hype or if they've actually played it and would legitimately buy a sequel.

Maybe in the meantime Sega will rerelease ports off the older games to maximize the games presence and get people up to speed on the franchise.
It's actually not a vocal minority with this one. They raised 4 million in just a short few days. That's huge, and still 22 days to go. I think the difference in sales has to do with the fact that Square-Enix released the game on a good platform and not a dying Dreamcast. And there is also the fact that Sega let Shenmue die whereas SE has always well publicized and marketed FFVII over the years. There has always been a big fanbase for Shenmue. It's just that it obviously cannot show in concrete sales because Sega has been an impediment to that. But this Kickstarter is obviously showing there is a big draw to this game, assuming Sony isn't the one piggybacking the Kickstarter.
 
$4 mill may sound like a lot to us common folk but it's not much to make this game happen. Isn't the # of contributors around 50,000? Games needs to break 1 million in sales these days and going by the old sales adage that 10% will respond that translates to a title that will sell 500,000 copies.
 
It's actually not a vocal minority with this one. They raised 4 million in just a short few days. That's huge, and still 22 days to go. I think the difference in sales has to do with the fact that Square-Enix released the game on a good platform and not a dying Dreamcast. And there is also the fact that Sega let Shenmue die whereas SE has always well publicized and marketed FFVII over the years. There has always been a big fanbase for Shenmue. It's just that it obviously cannot show in concrete sales because Sega has been an impediment to that. But this Kickstarter is obviously showing there is a big draw to this game, assuming Sony isn't the one piggybacking the Kickstarter.
Only 45,423 people have kickstarted this. That's a massive minority in the video game world.
 
Wouldn't the smart thing to do be to take the kickstarter money and fund a remaster of 1 & 2 to get those who never experienced the game to fall in love with it and join those who have to fund the final piece of the trilogy. At the end credits of Shemnue 2 put a link to donate to fund 3. I just wonder how 1 & 2 would hold up with todays gamers who may prefer instant gratification over good storytelling.