Engadget spoke with Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida, who explained a bit further Sony's involvement. "It's a very exciting project and there are lots of PlayStation fans asking for it. But it's a Sega IP and of course Suzuki Yu-san is the creator. So somehow Suzuki-san was able to work out with Sega to allow them to Kickstart the project. And because we liked the project, our third-party relations team struck a deal to help Kickstart the campaign at the E3 conference. That's great PR."
Adam Boyes later stated "we're backing it as well... we're putting scratch in" but that the title will be self-published with Sony helping with the marketing. Had Sony made the decision to fully fund Shenmue 3, Boyes estimates that two years would have been dedicated solely to showing there is a demand for the game, then the process to secure funding would begin, then development would start. Also, in the case of full funding, Shenmue 3 would have been a first party title for Sony, which likely would have waded into murky water as far as licensing from Sega was concerned, as well as with Yu Suzuki's role in the development process.
Yu Suzuki hosted an AMA on Reddit Friday, and while he did not address any of the questions regarding his partnership with Sony (many questions went unanswered due to the popularity of the thread, not just ones regarding Sony), he did say "I will say this: if we reach the $5 mil mark, one of the things I really want to do with Shenmue 3 will become a reality. At $10 million, it will truly have the features of an open world."
Shibuya Productions President & CEO Cedric Biscay, Co-Producer for Shenmue 3, addressed Sony's involvement briefly in several tweets, including one that stated "Sony is providing various supports, including marketing and investment, to YSNet. However, SONY is just one of many backers of [HASHTAG]#Shenmue3[/HASHTAG]." Further clarifying, Biscay wrote "SONY will not get any money from the KS, they will help to finance the PS4 version and will also help for advertisement."
In 2011, Suzuki told Destructoid that Shenmue, released in 1999, cost $47 million to make.
At the time of this posting, Shenmue 3 is the seventh most funded game Kickstarter of all time with nearly $3.5 million pledged and 26 days remaining.