![]() Pick up a copy of my sci-fi novel, The Last Exodus, and its sequel, The Exiled Earthborn, along with my Forbes.Shenmue 3 is a game that was 14 years in the marking, and thanks to a record-setting Kickstarter campaign (the game raised $2 million in just 9 hours), we’ve seen that fans of the popular game series are still willing to show their support for creator Yu Suzuki. I really don't like this use of Kickstarter as an "interest gauge" to milk millions from fans when the game could have been funded anyway.įollow me on Twitter, on Facebook, and on Tumblr. Update: And as expected, it turns out Sony is helping to fund Shenmue 3 development. I've reached out to Sony and Yu Suzuki to ask. I too hope fans don’t end up disappointed with the return of Shenmue, but I think it’s going to take a lot more than $2M to make that a reality, and I’m wondering where that money will actually come from. Something feels more than little bit off here, going from the most expensive video game ever made to something trying to scrounge up $2M on Kickstarter for a sequel. ![]() ![]() After much research and planning, we set the funding goal at this level believing it will make possible a fulfilling Shenmue experience.” The real challenge now is to deliver a sequel that we will all be satisfied with after 14 years of waiting. In fact, Shenmue has always been about risk and challenge. “ Risk and challenge are two words that have been with Shenmue 3 for the past 14 years. But the team doesn’t seem worried about that. Like, it’s a nice sentiment, but that really tells us nothing, and now we have to deal with all the usual problems high profile Kickstarter games face, like stressing about how a $70M (or $47M) game gets a proper sequel for only $2M. I’m sorry, but it’s just a little bit hard to buy the idea that Yu Suzuki chose Kickstarter over a better option just so he could bathe in the love of fans supporting him with donations. Together, with Shenmue fans everywhere, I knew we could build the game that the series deserves.” Through Kickstarter, I knew that could happen. “If Shenmue 3 was going to get made, I wanted to make it with the fans. They all want to know one thing: "When will Shenmue 3 be coming out?" With the advent of games using Kickstarter during these past few years, the new and now frequent demand from the fans has been, “Do a Kickstarter for Shenmue 3!” ![]() "Since the release of Shenmue 2, now 14 years ago, I have been greeted by the passionate outpouring of dedicated fans and Shenmue community members wherever I go. The Kickstarter page itself isn’t terribly helpful in clearing this up, as here’s what it says in its “Why Kickstarter?” section. Even if technology has progressed since then, either we’re going to be getting a sharply scaled-back experience, a game that looks like it was made a decade ago, or there’s a source of additional funding somewhere.Įven if Sony won’t say it outright, I have to believe that this Kickstarter is more of an interest gauge than something supporting the entire game by itself, and the company is supporting the game in a more direct way that simply allowing it to be released for PS4. Though Suzuki disputes SEGA's stated budget and says the game "only" cost $47M). What everyone seems to be forgetting is that the original Shenmue released in 1999 for Dreamcast literally held the Guinness World Record for the most expensive game of all time (at the time) with a production budget of $70M ($99M, if you adjust for inflation. Still, the idea that Yu Suzuki could develop and release Shenmue 3 on a $2M budget doesn’t add up.
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