After the initial burst of enthusiasm following its announcement, Shenmue III's long awaited Kickstarter campaign has slowed right down. In order for the title to reach its ultimate $10 million target, there's going to need to be another huge surge of interest – and creator Yu Suzuki and crew are desperately trying to drum up hype with a batch of new Stretch Goals.
Unlike other campaigns, the team has decided to lay all of its cards out at once. The additional targets include new quests, missions, and mini-games for all of the title's three major locations, as well as an improved battle system with ragdoll physics and more. These additional targets essentially tally with Suzuki's comments: you'll be getting a truly open world experience at $10 million.
The problem is that, unlike with other crowd funding drives, the new goals are unlikely to encourage people to pledge more money. Without the lure of, say, a Blu-ray release, these are quite nebulous targets – and we don't think that they're going to give the campaign the uptick in enthusiasm that it needs. The last few days are still going to be key, of course – but we hope that Suzuki and crew have a much better final push in mind.
[source kickstarter.com]
Comments 17
They simply need to add more kinds of rewards to get people to pledge more or this won't work.
You can get a lot of money from people "pre-purchasing" the game but the main money in Kickstarter comes from the exclusives usually done pro-bono by friends of the campaign that people pay stupid money for and this seems to be out of them.
@Jonny Agreed.
Just FUND the bloody thing, Sony!
@get2sammyb I noticed this morning one of the stretch goals was a part time job for Ryo, perhaps forklift racing is on the cards, it could though just be box carrying like II.
Physical release collector's edition including HD remasters of the original games should get a few more backers.
We all want this game to realize it's potential . Like KAGE88 says, I find both stupid and foolish of sony not to fund this game fully so it can be as good as suzuki envisages.
The last thing we want is watered down , stripped out sequel. Get your hands in your pockets Sony FFS!!!!!!
@Jonny - Yes, that rewards campagin list is sparse. Aren't T-shirts a staple of Kickstarters? I follow it a little, but it seems like you can always get a T-shirt for a $15 or $25 pledge. There are probably a lot of people who give to KS in that $10 - $20 range, (Or maybe that's just Humble bundles?)
This only has:
$5 - basically nothing
$29 - digital copy - so just pre-paying 2 years in advance
$60 - physical copy, but is that worth 2x the price of digital?
then the more expensive stuff
They need that middle $15 tier, maybe a t-shirt or baseball cap, or just demo access. Why is demo access only available at $100?
I'n not a KS expert by any means, but that $5 for nothing then $29 pre-paid-order gap seems to need something.
The only other KS I've followed closely is Yooka-Laylee and they seem to offer something for everyone:
$5, $10, $15, $20, $30, $35 then all the way up to $5,000 (I know it's pounds, or maybe that's Euros, not $)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/playtonic/yooka-laylee-a-3d-platformer-rare-vival/description
This has hit a wall funding wise, they definitely need to restructure the offers. Also as someone pointed out on the kickstarter feed I think the stretch goals are in the wrong order. Subtitles were the first thing on the list, and the games area expansions are listed seperately. This just means that if it reaches $5 million the start area of the game will be expansive and the other areas will be watered down versions of the true vision. Just seems strange to me.
@BLPs I actually agree with you on this.
@rjejr they did send out a survey a couple of days ago asking about desired rewards and bits of the game you might want
@BLPs - People wanted Other M? Or are you referring to people buying and being disappointed w/ Other M while they were waiting for Prime 4?
And I do think Shenmue can be somewhat of a hit, but they need to remaster 1 and 2. 2 ever only released in the US on Xbox, not Dreamcast, so I don't think it got as wide an audience as 1, probably why we never got 3. If they put 1 and 2 on PSN that would help. Actually its been so long since 1 and 2 were out it's possible that's the only way 3 sells.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi - Thanks for that. They still have some more time so maybe they'll come up w/ something else that appeals to donors. Like a digital copy of 1 and/or 2? Those games need to be on the list, Shenmue is over 15 years old, it's possible some people on here werne't even born yet.
@rjejr Only problem they have with that is 1 & 2 are owned by SEGA so they do not have the rights to remaster and reslease them. If SEGA have their business heads on they will be doing this right now.
@rjejr they'll never get I & II in there unless Sega gives away the game or gets in on the action unfortunately
Physical copy for ps4 at £45 and I'm In. I backed a load of games in a flurry and was happy (ish) but without a physical copy its not for me. Might throw a £5 in just to see it made. If they promise to make streets of rage 4 though I'm putting my kids Xmas money and the family holiday in, trading my car and selling my sister to pimps.
@BLPs I think Sony are happy they will save £4-£5 million. That's a lot of dough.
What's Shenmue! Cool. Weird thing is, I never found Shenmue to be that 'open' a world, I did finally get across the road in the Lucky Charm Quarter by glitching Ryo out of the map...
Im a big fan but not overly concerned about having an 'ultimate' version, just give us narrative closure (and a Japanese voice track option), even if I cant use my Dreamcast save file.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi - "they'll never get I & II in there unless Sega"
I almost dont even see the point in making this if they can't get 1 and 2 on PSN. Plenty of Sega Dreamcast games on there already - Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventure.
Though I've been waiting forever for Firefly and Serenity to wind up in a box set even though I know that's never going to happen either.
I will tell you this. I would have sold my soul for Shenmue 3 and I haven't pledged a single dime for this. So this is not even getting all the fans.
Sony should pay for this or have Yu port this to X1. Even xbox has had more Shenmue than Sony ever has and the X1 gamers could pledge too.
This will never live to its potential via KS. And yes, remaster the first two. We are in the remaster gen anyway. New people playing the old games means a surge of interest and funds too.
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