Following the success of the record breaking Kickstarter last month, things have gone a teensy bit quiet in the Shenmue III camp. Hopefully that's because Yu Suzuki and crew are busy beavering away on the long overdue sequel, which is currently set to release on the PlayStation 4 and PC in 2017. As part of a new episode of GameSpot's excellent The Point series, however, Gio Corsi has shared a little more insight into the game – and how it ended up on Sony's stage during E3 2015.
"Right off the bat, Shenmue was top of the list from day one," said Third-Party Productions chief Gio Corsi of his #BuildTheList project. For those of you out of the loop, Sony asked PlayStation fans to name which brands they most wanted to see on the platform, and these results were then collated. It just so happened that not long after this data was collected, Yu Suzuki got into contact with SCEA executive Adam Boyes about the possibility of holding a meeting regarding the sequel.
"Ah dude, keeping Shenmue a secret was really tough," continued Corsi. "We had two codenames: one was Ebisu which is a district in Japan, and the other was ramen because it's my favourite food. Only a handful of people within Sony knew what those codenames meant." And this is how things remained for over a year, while Suzuki-san and Sony figured out a way to approach the sequel. They eventually decided upon Kickstarter, providing fans with an opportunity to put their money where their mouth is.
The campaign, as you should already know, went on to become a record breaking success, ultimately earning over $6 million in fan funding. But what's the console manufacturer's role in the game going to be? "Through Third-Party Productions we're going to offer production support, milestone reviews, [and generally help] Yu Suzuki and his team through development, while our partner alliance team will help with PR, getting the demos and the trailers out, and, when the time comes, the opportunity to show the game at events," Corsi explained. "[We'll also help to] release the game and get it through submission for both the physical and digital copies."
As for whether the title will be a full console exclusive, Corsi alluded that these kinds of discussions are ongoing right now. "We wanted to get through the Kickstarter first," he concluded. To be honest, we'd bet our last toy capsule on that turning out to be the case, but we'll have to wait and see, won't we?
[source gamespot.com]
Comments 10
Shenmue made me wait for a bus in real time, yet I still played it. Shows how good it is
Hopefully Sony can do something clever and get the first two on PS4 for download so I can play them before the third!
I'd love to see a re-release prior to launch. Even with no remastering. Played S2 a little on Dream cast but not as much as it sounds like I should have.
Yeah, I really don't get why Sony don't just openly fund it. Boosting its budget to 20 million would just about triple its KS budget and would be pretty small change for Sony. This whole thing could actually backfire massively if it ends up being terrible. Sony have got people associating a beloved series and a hotly anticipated sequel with the PS4. That's great PR for them. If it ends up crap, though, the negative associations with PS4 will be palpable.
For those wondering why Sony don't just fund Shenmue 3 altogether is because they will see no comeback on the investment. When Shenmue 2 back in 2001 cost around $70 million, you would think it have to cost around over half that to get 3 up to the same size of features as the previous games. And the game will never sell well enough to earn back the cost because it's still a niche game, hence where there's multiple investors behind this (including Sony) where they can chip in but don't see massive losses. Besides if Sony were to invest that amount of money on a exclusive I would rather they did on a Horizon or a Last of Us 2 because there more bankable. But Sony of course had to show interest in this because there community were heavily demanding it.
A lot of you are also forgetting that SEGA owns the IP. Sony won't outright fund a game unless they own the IP, so short of buying the brand back, they would never have fully funded it from the off.
Corsi actually admits in this interview that a lot of it was about gamer goodwill; I doubt Sony will see a penny from this project - in fact, they'll probably lose money on it.
It's obviously good for the platform, though, so it's an investment in that sense.
Record KS or not, I still have my doubts about this.
And Sega is dumb, they should use this hype to remaster the first two, a lot of people who have barely heard of Shenmue would pick it up after the KS.
@sinalefa
Sega released a console without telling anybody and didn't find success with an awesome piece of hardware like the Dreamcast. As much as I once loved that company, smart decision making definitely isn't something that happens there.
@Gamer83
I know, but really if Sony won't fund Shenmue 3 they could easily fund having a remaster of the first two. Heck, even putting them on PSN upscaled would be enough. I am assuming Sony is smarter than Sega though.
@sinalefa
Sony won't fund if they don't own the IP, but I agree it'd be nice to get the first two games. Upscaled with trophy support, I'd probably buy them.
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