Shenmue Series

There must be a reason why nobody will back it and they need a kickstarter fund.
My cousin has this theory that maybe there was some Dynasty level soap opera s*** going on, where someone slept with his wife on a business venture trip. And now Yu Suzuki refuses to work with somebody at MS. :laugh:

As ludicrous as that sounds. If it was a private hurt pride thing it would make sense. Because now the mighty have fallen and Yu Suzuki was basically shaking a bowl on stage calling out "okane kudasaaaai" for his own kickstarter.

Gamesradar has a better theory:
http://www.gamesradar.com/sony-now-...nmue-3-kickstarter-leaves-bad-taste-my-mouth/
 
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My cousin has this theory that maybe there was some Dynasty level soap opera s*** going on, where someone slept with his wife on a business venture trip. And now Yu Suzuki refuses to work with somebody at MS. :laugh:

As ludicrous as that sounds. If it was a private hurt pride thing it would make sense. Because now the mighty have fallen and Yu Suzuki was basically shaking a bowl on stage calling out "okane kudasaaaai" for his own kickstarter.

Gamesradar has a better theory:
http://www.gamesradar.com/sony-now-...nmue-3-kickstarter-leaves-bad-taste-my-mouth/

I'm confused. So Sony is paying for the game, but they wanted to gauge popularity by lying about kickstarter fund.
 
Hmmm, if we are to believe the statements from people here, it appears sony isn't helping as much as initially thought and are mainly helping to fund the ps4 port and marketing. That is kind of concerning now because this kickstarter has grinded to a halt. It's made what 20-30k today only I think. I'm not really sure what to believe or if people are telling the truth, but it's very clear now that the word of sony's involvement has had a direct negative impact on the kickstarter and funds are trickling in very slowly since that first day.

If that isn't the reason why the kickstarter has slowed down so much then the alternative is even worse. It means that the shenmue fans were just a loud vocal minority that already all backed it during the first day. Which means that when the game actually releases it'll be a commercial flop with no one buying it cause all the fans already backed it and got their copy.

If sony doesn't put in significant development funds then the scope of this game will be very limited. However, I wonder if people will still love it if it ends up being a smaller game because I know a lot of fans just won't to know how the story concludes.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/new...ved-in-Marketing-and-Production-for-Shenmue-3
If the first one cost $47 million, I'm not sure how a $5m Kickstarter, and if Sony matches that, doesn't look like they're contributing much, will make this game possible. Something isn't right.
 
There must be a reason why nobody will back it and they need a kickstarter fund.

Just like there's a reason it's taken over a decade just to get to this point, a weird kickstarter fund at that. I'm just going to say that Shenmue 3 will not live up to its expectations, and very likely won't be fiscally viable either. Shenmue was a good experience when it came out on the Dreamcast way back when, and in many ways very good for its time. There weren't to many good life sims at the time. However, in today's world with the Witcher series, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, etc., there is just too much that has been done and is being done considerably better since then.
 
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If the first one cost $47 million, I'm not sure how a $5m Kickstarter, and if Sony matches that, doesn't look like they're contributing much, will make this game possible. Something isn't right.

I can imagine it just being a really small open world game with those funds. Like a 1/10 of the size of gta 5 for example, but with a heavy focus on story hopefully.

They really botched it not being upfront at the start about sony's involvement becauase there's been a lot of articles in the press telling people not to fund shenmue since. They should have been upfront at the start like bloodstained which said the KS was to prove people wanted castlevania and he had secured funding already. That didn't stop people from funding it and it collected 5.5m. However, they never said the source of the funds, so I wonder if that would have made a big difference in this cause since people know Sony is some huge company with money, so it might have still slowed funding down even with upfront knowledge.
 
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The Kickstarter page was updated with a little info on exclusivity:

"The answer to the question about additional platform versions now reads: 'Currently we are planning development only for PC (Windows) and PS4. Other platforms have not been decided yet. If other platform versions were added as rewards, an announcement would be made on the update page'."

"This suggests that an Xbox One version could be added as a stretch goal reward."


http://www.videogamer.com/ps4/shenm...x_one_version_could_be_added_as_a_reward.html
 
Yu is one of the all time greats in videogame development. Shenmue was ahead of it's time. There's a place on the market for an open world RPG brawler. The reason I bought Shenmue 2 on the OG Xbox was because the concept sounded so cool on paper.

But...the pacing in the first two games won't hold the attention of gamers in Western markets. The appeal of this game is primarily to those that beat the first two games. There isn't many of those in the West. Yu was out of gaming for a long time. He doesn't have his original team. This game won't have the kind of funding necessary to have bells and whistles. If it's a game with any amount of content comparable to the originals, it's a loooong ways away.

It is such a long-shot that this game is close to becoming the sequel Shenmue fans have dreamed about. I think a lot of people got way ahead of themselves due to not understanding what a Kickstarter is. I'm rooting for Yu. If he pulls off a decent sequel, it would make one of the best gaming documentaries of all time. I think he needs a partner.
 
http://gamingbolt.com/shenmue-3-kickstarter-may-be-hinting-at-xbox-one-stretch-goal


Sony took the stage to announce Shenmue 3’s Kickstarter at their E3 conference last week, completing the trifecta of legendary game announcements that everyone hoped for, but didn’t really expect (the other two were The Last Guardian and Final Fantasy 7’s remake). For a while, everyone was excited- Shenmue 3 was finally happening! But then, details about the project began to arise, and there was some confusion about it all. First, Sony was not funding it, and it was Suzuki’s thing entirely; then, Sony was funding it, and the Kickstarter was just to gauge interest; then Sony wasn’t funding it, and most of the funds were expected to come in through Kickstarter.

This is also an important question because it determines just which systems Shenmue 3 eventually comes to. While Wii U is probably out of the question, if Sony’s involvement with the project was minimal, the game might eventually make its way over to the Xbox One, for example, right?

Right now, that seems to be the case. The Kickstarter page of Shenmue 3 has been updated, and it now seems to be hinting at an Xbox One version. Previously, when discussing a release on other platforms, this is what it said:

‘Currently we are planning development only for PC (Windows) and PS4. Other platforms have not been decided yet.’

However, today, this text was further added: ‘If other platform versions were added as rewards, an announcement would be made on the update page.’

Does that mean that an Xbox One version of the game may be added as a stretch goal? That would certainly be very interesting in a lot of ways. It would also imply that Sony’s involvement in this entire project may, in fact, be zero. Apart from taking the time out in their E3 conference to announce the Kickstarter on stage, and be attached forever to the project as its savior.

Which is a bit gross.


Read more at http://gamingbolt.com/shenmue-3-kic...-at-xbox-one-stretch-goal#x9XCvQM4E6XpHuf6.99
 
They won't reach that goal anyway. The well seems to have dried up on that page.
 
I can imagine it just being a really small open world game with those funds. Like a 1/10 of the size of gta 5 for example, but with a heavy focus on story hopefully.

They really botched it not being upfront at the start about sony's involvement becauase there's been a lot of articles in the press telling people not to fund shenmue since. They should have been upfront at the start like bloodstained which said the KS was to prove people wanted castlevania and he had secured funding already. That didn't stop people from funding it and it collected 5.5m. However, they never said the source of the funds, so I wonder if that would have made a big difference in this cause since people know Sony is some huge company with money, so it might have still slowed funding down even with upfront knowledge.

They were pretty upfront about it.. :-/

Adam Boyes gave some examples of Kickstarter games wich have been brought to PS4, and then he said 'this next game were not a Sony game, it's the developers own thing' - but it were a game PS-gamers have been vocal about.. And when the developers told Sony they'd make it on Kickstarter, they wanted to highlight it here on stage today..

Also then there came a trailer saying the story of Shenmue were left incomplete - and it ended With Yu Suzuki saying that the fate of Shenmue were in your hands now.. :)

And then they counted down the Kickstarter, and Adam Boyes said let's help Yu Suzuki make Shenmue 3 happen.. Before they moved to the NeXT game:)
It would have been a very boring E3-Conference if we all had to sit through hours of clarigfications of all the deals they made, before even a games budget were Clear, for each game..

On the Kickstarter page, it allways said there were aggregate funding, both by what YS-Net would also put together funding from various investors, aswell as the kickstarter contributors, in the FAQ: As a response to is 2 million enough?

Unfortunately, various gamejournalists - like Ben Kuchera at Polygon, for example - assumed all they'd been told - or could read - were a lie - and then put up articles where it seemed like Sony owned the game, and put it up on Kickstarter, so they could get more money than they allready did from pre-orders, and other stuff, or used it to gauge interest from gamers, for the franchise before fully commiting to it, and various other theories. :-/
 
So that's what he meant when he hinted something awesome would come at $10M..... Xbox One version!
 
Odd....last thing i read was that Sony IS funding the game, is definitely helping out in several ways.
 
Odd....last thing i read was that Sony IS funding the game, is definitely helping out in several ways.
Yeah i am kinda iffy on that too. This whole situation really. If Sony is "helping" with the game, why the Kickstarter? Just fund it.
 
Yeah i am kinda iffy on that too. This whole situation really. If Sony is "helping" with the game, why the Kickstarter? Just fund it.

Yeah true, it's odd. But ah well it doesn't matter, for many people Sony is already the savior of Shenmue , oh and gaming in general. Who cares if it all turns out be a bit different than that?

;)
 
Odd....last thing i read was that Sony IS funding the game, is definitely helping out in several ways.

Yeah i am kinda iffy on that too. This whole situation really. If Sony is "helping" with the game, why the Kickstarter? Just fund it.
Their 3rd party development team is working with the Shenmue 3 devs to help bring the game to PSN, just like they do with a lot of other indies titles. It is still very much an indie developed game and is depending upon Kickstarter as well as other outside funding to be successful.
 
Sony is putting money to advertising the PS version. And a little extra elsewhere but most of the development costs will come from kick starter. If they want they cash boost they should just say Xbox one version rather than just hinting at it.
 
Sony could easily fund Shenmue in episodic content. If the game is saling poorly they could easily stop development and everyone wins. Atm Shenmue is barebones and no one cares.
 
Sony is putting money to advertising the PS version. And a little extra elsewhere but most of the development costs will come from kick starter. If they want they cash boost they should just say Xbox one version rather than just hinting at it.
If they mention Xbox, then I'm sure a clause in the Sony agreement says funding or marketing help stops.

I'm sure there's a document that states to not mention Xbox, and if not mentioned Yu gets to come on stage and promote his kickstarter campaign.

Like business deals I've seen in my industry, many are multi-pronged.

Supplier is willing to give xxx low price if:

- Retailer lists product
- Retailer commits to xxx number of weekly flyer deals per year
- Retailer grants exclusivity of branded products (but allows store brands). But other competing brand names are blocked out
- Duration of deal is always 1-2 years. Rarely have I seen 3 or more. Retailers don't want to commit to deals too long
 
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If it comes to Xbox, cool. If not, it's not like you won't be able to buy a digital Steam code for $10 a week or so after it's release. With a budget like that, this game will have to be made with integrated GPU's in mind, so it'll likely run on a toaster.
 
Yeah i am kinda iffy on that too. This whole situation really. If Sony is "helping" with the game, why the Kickstarter? Just fund it.

cause you know it's Kickstarter as in you know a Kickstarter if they get the base budget maybe Sony will help with the rest. it's like nobody knows WTF a Kick start is.

The site is not f***ing called pay for my whole project and I won't seek any other investors it's called kick starter as you know you help it start up.
 
If the first one cost $47 million, I'm not sure how a $5m Kickstarter, and if Sony matches that, doesn't look like they're contributing much, will make this game possible. Something isn't right.

well it was remade at least once it was for the Sega Saturn at first then moved to DC and for the time the game was far ahead of its' time so a lot of that turned into development cost. Sega also up to that point never did a game like Shenmue. So if you read about the development of the game they spent an insane money getting it running and out.

Now can they do the same with 2 mill I've no idea but funny thing is shenmue is not that big of a game but today's standards. you can also outsorce art and programming to cheap workers over seas and what now where back in the say that was not done much. All the art is done the story all the ground work still should be there unless Sega has it.

Far as the kick starter I don't get people issue it's called kick starter not I will just use the money I make here to fund my game or whatever and never seek any other investors.

 
cause you know it's Kickstarter as in you know a Kickstarter if they get the base budget maybe Sony will help with the rest. it's like nobody knows WTF a Kick start is.

The site is not f***ing called pay for my whole project and I won't seek any other investors it's called kick starter as you know you help it start up.
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.
 
Watch this and you will see why it should just die.

Its a tacky tactic their using to get this game developed. Essentially they have a financial goal in mind, but their using Mcdonalds up-sell tactics in order to get gamers what they really want. Plus gamers arent thinking about how they then have to buy the game once its released which is another $60 investment. Its shady. Yeah....not a fan. If this thing goes south and gamers get the brunt end of the stick, theres going to be some really pissed off people. No one will even see this game for 2-3 years tops-if ever.
 
Mmm... I get your point about people over-reacting... But it still makes me feel dirty.

The gray area certainly makes me uncomfortable funding it. And the offer for $10,000 grand for a dinner party with Yu? f*** that! I could be face deep in a bowl of cocaine with Miley Cyrus for that money.

The REAL reason why I don't want to ks this with my own money?

I didn't 'get' Shen Mue 2... I paid $109AUD for it back in the day, and tried sooooo hard to enjoy it. But I couldn't. It was a chore for me. I finished it. But I didn't enjoy it. And I don't have fond memories to want another... Unless its a forklift sim.

More forklift, less crappy voice acting.