So after years of people clamouring for it (myself being one of those hopefuls), it seems that Shenmue 3 could actually happen. Just that it's on Kickstarter and they are asking for $2 Million.

So do you think we will finally see the conclusion or, worst case maybe, this gets an immense amount of funding and they split the game further and yet again can't finish the story? This game was suppose to span numerous years after it's debut originally.

Kotaku: http://kotaku.com/shenmue-3-is-real-is-coming-to-kickstarter-1711560762

Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ysnet/shenmue-3

That Kickstarter doesn't seem well-thought-out. Those funding goals and backer rewards are pretty basic.

I never played Shenmue. What's so cool about Shenmue?

Who cares about the rewards. Shenmue!

Potentially? It's already at 500k, it'll be fully funded in less than a day, and I bet those stretch goals will be reached in less than a week. This is happening, and I'm thrilled.

Pretty much just the story. Its very much a game like what Telltale makes but open world back when nobody did anything like that. The game play wasnt amazing, but the story was what hooked you(or didnt). I think many of the Shenmue detractors still to this day think its a bad action game when really it was just a 3d adventure game.

Is it shitty of me to think that it's kinda gross that Sony announced Shenmue III on their stage, garnering a bunch of goodwill from fans, when they're not even funding the fucking game?

@random45: I say potentially with all hopes that this gets released but you can never be %100 sure even with all the funding.

@friendlyphoenix: True but it could be a proof of interest sort of deal. I'd be amazed if a game like this would only cost $2 million.

Jesus fucking christ, i thought i'd never see the day. I kind of gave up a couple of years ago after that elaborate kikizo rumor fell through. I'm glad i was wrong!

My god this is incredible.

Is Sony not using Kickstarter to gauge interest at all? I figure they might pitch in once the game gets successfully funded to optimize the game for PS4.

Are they porting 1 and 2 to PS4 too? How do they hope to get new players if you need to get a Dreamcast And/or OG Xbox to play the first two in the series. This is not like a streetfighter game. It's totally story driven.

I wonder if Sega is involved in this if at all. They are only mentioned once in the whole page, under Character Designers description. They are definitely getting funding somewhere else if the Kickstarter succeeds though. 2 million ain't enough unless they are planning on making a small game.

@thunderslash: I would be surprised if this is on the scale of the first 2, maybe if this does well future installments will be bigger.

Already passed a million dollars. The 2.5 million stretch goal is movie versions of 1 and 2, so I hope they can hit than since we won't be seeing any remasters.

Jeez, they've already passed a million dollars. That's nuts. I mean, I've wanted Shenmue 3 since forever. But, man...that's nuts.

I'm not really sure what this game is going to be. $2 million really isn't that much for a game, especially when we're talking a game on the scale of Shenmue. Think about pretty much any game that has been funded through Kickstarter, all of them are pretty small scale. It's cool something like this is happening, but I'm not sure there's any chance it will be what people are hoping for it to be.

Shenmue 3 just strikes me as one of those "Use Kickstarter as a means to market this game and prove interest to your funding sources in the industry" announcements. I fully expect there's financial source out there or two that were willing to back it but it always came back to "But dude, no one fucking cares about Shenmue." Kickstarters like this are just there to prove the interest, I think.

I thought the first two games sucked so I'm not sure it matters if this goes through or not. I also don't see any issue with them announcing it at E3, both Shenmue and sony need the help.

@marokai said:

Yeah there definitely has to be. $2 million isn't that much for a game, especially one where I've heard that the previous 2 were expensive as hell for their time period. It was kind of weird to me how Sony pumped up a kickstarter during their own press conference, but hey fans got what they want so happy for them.

Also, not going to be shocked if it doesn't reach its 2017 release date.

It's potentially a shippable thing, yeah. Definitely not a video game though, more like some kind of walking/fork lift simulator. I think you can also occasionally drink an entire can of soda in front of a vending machine or something.

I highly doubt that they are going to make this game with 2 million dollars. I would bet big money on Sony funding contingently on them reaching certain goals.

It will be a game if my 100 dollars has anything to say about it.

@friendlyphoenix: Yes that's really shitty of you to be honest. Why wouldn't they do it when it benefits both sides?

So will they make Shenmue 1 and 2 available for ps4 too?

I never played those games, and would feel i'm missing out if I jumped straight to 3.

I feel like this is a case of simply knowing they can get money to do it.
At the very least I was hoping for a collection of the two previous games or something. There are a lot of people that haven't played these games, and I promise a lot of them are probably backing this too despite that. Simply from the insane clamoring for the game ever since Shenmue 2.
I won't back it, but will keep my eye on it.

I'm super happy for people that want this, I wonder how prepared Kickstarter was for the whole thing, not sure if I have ever seen something crash that site

I almost picked up a copy of the 1st Shenmue a while back...was always curious about it

Are the Dreamcast and original Xbox literally the only platforms the first 2 games are available on? They should re-release the originals on steam or something. I've always been interested in Shenmue, but there's never been an easy way to play it, and I'm not going to jump in on the third one, especially if its a story focused game. I'm not even sure if you can emulate those platforms very well or not.

@hunter5024: The Dreamcast is a Windows CE box, it was emulated pretty quickly. Shenmue 2 was only released on Xbox in America but it came out on Dreamcast in Europe.

If people are curious you can watch a movie Sega made of the original Shenmue that came with the Xbox version of 2. Its on Youtube. I wouldn't recommend it over playing the game itself, but its an option. Keep in mind its like watching a movie made of just the cutscenes in a Persona game. Watchable and understandable but you miss 90% of everything that gives the game its charm.

I agree that the first 2 games need to be released for PC.

..... I just don't know. Kinda want to support it, like the reason why I got into Shenmu was to explore a house, check through drawers and see how much insane detail was in this game. Kinda not sure they could live up to the over 14 expectations. Blah, I'm probably gonna support this.

It's at 1.7 million as of 5am 6/16. I have strong misgivings about this. I believe nostalgia has twisted peoples memories of the originals and can't fathom how they'll make a game that compares with any modern open world game for 2 million. Even if this is just to gauge interest in the franchise after all these years in order to get real money out of publishers, I think it would have served them better to do HD remakes of the originals. I believe there will be a lot of disappointed players when this game is finally available for play.

I believe gamers are fucking stupid. That's why in 2015 they've had to finally announce an FF VII remake even though the original is widely available. Gamers whinge incessantly so remakes and things like this just seem to hold the industry back. Kickstarters like that make their goals based on such slim memories of what used to be. How long before Half-Life 3 becomes a kickstarter, folks? Seriously.

It's official: Shenmue 3 just passed the 2 million mark

@friendlyphoenix: Ehh the Kickstarter goal is only $ 2 million, I doubt thats going to be the whole budget, I imagine that Sony will be footing some of the bill if this happens.

@jabbawocky: yeah for sure, 2 million is nothing. I guess its a starting goal to gauge interest to acquire proper backing from sony or whoever.

I was a release-day owner of Shenmue for the Dreamcast. Personally, I think nostalgia is clouding peoples' desire for this, and I'm not sure I have any interest in this, but just the same, it's cool that a new Shenmue is getting made for those who do really want this.

Some issues I have: the Kickstarter seems pretty minimal on details. They've introduced the talent but that's basically it. I'm curious if they got the rights from Sega to do this, or if Sega would nominally be involved. The December 2017 release date at least seems far enough away to suggest the people behind this aren't over-promising and then going to delay (although that could still happen). I imagine they have additional deals, as $2 million will most certainly not be enough to fund this game completely. The original Shenmue was reported (or maybe I'm repeating a falsehood) to have cost $70 million, the most expensive at the time. Naturally, building on Unreal 4 and no longer having a major studio back this will (hopefully) mean that the will have the discipline to build this for $10 million or less.

It's also curious to me that it's only announced for PC and PS4 so far, since if you'll recall, Shenmue 2 only came out on the original Xbox in the U.S.

I have good memories with both games and while it did have some pretty sizable issues, it's charm, story, and the world really did pull me in in kept me in for the long haul. I really am interested in seeing what a modern Shenmue would look like and finally see where the story will go. I backed it, but I won't hold my breath until I get it in my hands.

I really want to replay shenmue 1/2 now but my Dreamcast/XbOG are in storage.

I wonder if Shenmue 3 will get as much or more funding than IgaVania did. IgaVania got 10x what they were asking for(500k) so maybe shenmue will get 20mil... But probably not.

Can we start calling the Original XBOX XbOG?

Unless some company actually comes out and announces they are backing this properly, this is not going to end well at all.

Honestly, even the pitch half came across as 'God I hope this fails so everyone has to STFU about it forever'.

@jimbo: Yeah, that's definitely not what's going through the creator's mind.

I played and beat Shenmue during the few months after release. I never played 2 for some reason. I really loved my time with Shenmue as there was just nothing I had ever played that had the scope and did what that game did. I do remember going back 5 years later and playing it for a bit. My nostalgia carried me for a while, but it had gotten a little rough.

At any rate, I think for this game to capture any of that old magic, it's going to need more time than 2 years and a bigger budget than anyone(investors) would be willing to fork out. I'd reeeeeeeally like to see this game be awesome, but the fact that it has escaped traditional methods of getting done thus far, for so long, my expectations are something mediocre being released in 2018. If this game was a license to print money, someone in this huge amount of time would have funded it properly and executed on the plan. My guess is that tons of people have broken it down and looked at the numbers and it just hasn't been feasible. I'd love be proven wrong on this. Go kick some ass devs.

Nope, but it sure sounded like it.

Either way, this isn't getting made with Kickstarter money alone so I really hope they have a publisher up their sleeve.

You may not be that great at reading people. Just putting that out there.

Ahem. Very excited this met its mark so fast. Support from people coming out of the woodwork. Did anyone see the character designer and director for the Pokemon franchise pledged 10k?

@71ranchero: 34k people aren't that great at predicting how this will turn out, imo.

People using Kickstarter for funding should put a realistic funding goal on their project, or make it clear if they're only using KS to prove viability to a third party. Actually I think they have an obligation to do these things, to minimise the chance of the backers ending up with nothing to show for their money.

If they do announce a legit publisher or if the KS gets to like $25m then I'd probably take a punt on it and give it about a 50:50 chance of getting made.

Does anyone know what Sony's actual involvement in the game is? It's obviously more than just "we're pimping someone else's kickstarter", but I don't know exactly what it is.

They are a partner for the project and I think the whole thing is fucking gross. I knew this day would come. They have no business using Kickstarter.

I don't know how to feel about this without knowing the facts, but it is gross to act like it's someone else kickstarter when we all know 2 million could never get it done. But with them standing in line to make profits off of the kickstarter money when they don't really need it, like most people who need kickstarter, it kind of violates the spirit of how I view kickstarter. I don't know what Sony's war chest is like, but every large corporation that doesn't have cash goes to banks/other financers and gets loans.

@jimbo: Oh, thanks for clearing that one up. You should call up Mr. Suzuki and let him know that he has no idea what he is doing with his baby and that the fans are wrong for supporting him. You went from expert mind reader to armchair analyst so fast that I am shocked you didnt get whiplash.

Welp, time to replay Shenmue for the 90th time.

It would've funded without Sony's help. If anything, Sony's backing gives it a credibility other kickstarters can't match. Again though, I want them to plug the funding at some appropriate point. Sony's got the proof and now the funds they need to get something substantial going. Whilst the money in kickstarter is entirely volunteered, they should contribute their own, as well as knowledge to help this come to fruition.

Looks like Patrick shed a little light on the subject. It appears their involvement hasn't been publicly quantified.

http://kotaku.com/sony-is-helping-make-shenmue-iii-1711819045