Update: Publisher Deep Silver has revised the Shenmue III embargo, now allowing critics to publish their verdicts on the title from launch day, on 19th November. While we won't be running our review at that time -- this is a relatively large title that demands more of our time -- we should have some first impressions ready to go tomorrow.
Original Article: Shenmue III launches on 19th November, but media receiving review code from publisher Deep Silver will be forced to wait until 21st November in order to cover the title. That’s because the company has set an embargo on the release, preventing press from scoring the long-awaited sequel until two days after launch.
While you probably will see some outlets work around this – Kickstarter copies are currently being shipped, for example, and aren’t bound by the embargo – it means that fence-sitters will generally have to wait a few days to get the verdict on the Ys Net developed game. Our guess is that the organisation is expecting sub-par reviews – but considering this is made for fans of the franchise, does it really matter?
Comments 59
That's not an encouraging sign.
I'm genuinely confused... How does that even make sense?!
Most people who are getting it probably backed it on Kickstarter anyway.
I doubt people will be going out in droves to get this... Why embargo it til two days after release? (Besides the obvious of it's crap and they want money of course)
surely they can't legally stop or even ask reviews not to be published whilst retail copies exist on shelves, how very odd
Weird decision, can't see many people getting this without knowing what they are getting...and without having played the first two !
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy you've kind of answered your own question. I can't think of another reason. Ironically it's also bad for publicity having the embargo after, as now the assumption is the game isn't going to be any good.
Maybe in the beginning I would have been interested but at this point game developers and publishers in general have released such a huge mountain of broken software that the moment I see or hear about a game that the developers believe so little in that they can't even handle an honest pre-release review.
This Shenmue III crap though - they can't even handle an honest review AFTER THE GAME IS SCHEDULED TO BE RELEASED.
If your game can't handle honest reviews then you do not get my money anymore.
This makes no sense as the game is being made for a very specific market, such as me, @get2sammyb and a handful of others on this site who are going to buy this regardless of the reviews. Added to that how easy it will be for everyone to circumvent this embargo in the first place and it's just nonsense
wow, that is a horrible sign. you never see publishers do this. they must have zero confidence in the product — i can't see why they would to be honest, it looks like it was created in the mid 2000s. this game will only appeal to the most dellusional shenmue fans, meaning, it will be a financial flop since i don't think there are as many of those people out there as people think there are.
back to the point of the embargo. i don't think it should be legal to do this. in the western world where free speech rules supreme, how can a company tell the media they are not allowed to give their opinion on it until 2 days AFTER it has gone public? that makes zero sense and boggles the mind why any news outlet would abide by these rules. heh, i'm sure i will see a bunch of reviews from smaller youtubers, though.
@carlos82 I get being a huge fan of a franchise and all, but $60 is a bit much of a gamble regardless of the fact. Just my opinion there as I'm aware people will spend their money however they want. I honestly couldn't do it without some reassurance.
@Porco I suspect they probably know that most of the published reviews will be lower than they hoped, and pushed back the embargo in hopes of getting some quick sales before the scores pop up. Who knows for sure, but it seems a bit sketchy to me. I hope I'm wrong and the rating score is above average. It won't stop the diehards from buying anyway and those who backed it.
@InsertUsername oh, absolutely it is sketchy. it is also anti-consumer and anti-free speech. perhaps the base game itself is "ok" (as in it is medicore but passable) but it is likely marred by technical and performance problems on top of that and they might not have a patch that will be ready for the reviews. in any case, it doesn't affect me, but i can see there being a lot of unhappy shenmue fans come release day when they realize their game doesn't work or turned out worse than their wildest dreams
Ridiculous idea.
Maybe it's to avoid spoilers? I mean, the plot's kinda 20 years in the making.
It’s a game reviewers are obviously going to struggle with scoring, even if they are Shenmue fans. Reviewed “as a fan” and it’ll probably be a 8+... perhaps as a “professional critic“ it’d do less, and we all know 7’s and below aren’t worth the time of day.
It’s a risk delaying reviews like this, but obviously it’ll be a calculated one and they must have decided this is the best option for their bottom line.
Ok....whats the worst score by a reputable site? Im going 4/10 lol. Everything they have shown recently looks good though imo. But my rose tint means they could give it a 0 and im still day one. I can remember everything about my life around the release. Thats saying something. Very few games are my memories so vivid
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Just to stop any people drawn in by the enthusiasm of fans from seeing a terrible Metacritic score I guess.
@mini_piekarnik Embargoes aren’t legal (unless an NDA is involved) but it is considered good etiquette from media to respect a publisher’s embargo.
We could, for example, break the embargo on Push Square, but we wouldn’t expect to work with Deep Silver again if we did.
This also wouldn’t be fair on our peers from other sites who respected the embargo.
I always find it odd when games have a review embargo on the day of release, but having it afterwards is really bizarre.
I still haven't played the collection, so I'll probably wait on getting a copy of 3.
Does this apply to every media outlet? Or only the ones that receive a free review copy from the developer?
You guys have legendary puns.
So then why not asking for 3 months embargo then?
I guess they could sell so much crap to people in this way.
Reading this news makes me think that this game will be total garbage
Not acceptable. As far as im concerned the game hasn't been released until it has been reviewed.
Consumers should treat publishers with the same contempt that they treat the player with these days and refuse to buy the game until the following week after all reviews are out. Certainly I've stopped catering to their BS.
The only reason to do this is to hide something. And they think they can get away with it because they know they have a core audience who will buy the game on day 1 because they have been waiting so long for it to release
Do. Not. Accept. This
I'm expecting 6/10 max for this sadly lol
I'm a backer from that day after the announcement... my chips were in ages ago.
Hope for the best 🎲
Yeah, I just don't get relying so hard on game reviewers. Sometimes it's nice to see if someone just agrees with you sure, but to base your own choice on someone else's is crazy to me.
Weird decision... I'm a big fan and backed this immediately, but anybody with realistic expectations knows that this will average somewhere between 30-70. And yes, the internet will be cynical and gloat, but I don't care. Yu Suzuki made the impossible happen. Something that goes beyond metastatic scores and AAA staples and I'm so happy that he and his team had the guts to make this.
@KrazyK85 depends on context. If you base buying decisions based on another's reception to story etc then sure.
But when publishers do this, more often than not its because they know the game is a buggy mess. Not always. But usually, and its good to get a heads up beforehand.
Odd choice, I wont be getting the game at launch anyway as paid out for NFS Heat and Death Stranding, and I want to try Jedi Outcast... after 18 years, can wait a bit longer for Shenmue 3.
@Rob_230 It's possible..but I watched some gameplay they showed of it awhile back and it just seems the same as the others. Stiff gameplay and all that.
I think they're more worried it'll be slammed for what will be considered outdated mechanics.
That is not a good sign.
I think some people are jumping the gun here slightly.
Having a review embargo on or after a game releases does not always equate to the game being bad. Sekiro seem to turn out fine.
I see.
Very worrying but let's be honest. Old playing mechanics , sluggish animation and DC quality 3D models. A score of 5.8 out of 10 will be the average. But count me in , "I will avenge my father ! "
I don't think this was ever going to be good, let's be honest.
@LanDi-punchinbag You have some very inaccurate memories of DC models. 😉
@kyleforrester87 whoa whoa whoa, my understanding is 5 - great, 6 - sweet, 7 - awesome. Are you saying that's wrong??!! Would explain why I've played some pooy games lately...
This is a great sign, they're so confident in the quality of the game that they don't need reviews.
Or soemthing....
I’m still looking for sailors so I’ll be there regardless, but I don’t think the game will actually be very good. I just want resolution on the story.
@get2sammyb i always thought review embargoes were a legal thing. Thats a interesting fact!
@YozenFroghurt it could probably be dressed up as a “first impressions” article I guess...?
@get2sammyb You don't need to to work with the publisher in future if they do this. You have 2 days to buy the game and review before anyone else does.
i smell a turkey, i expect its gonna be unfinished and broken game at release (like the hd version of the two first games that they couldnt even get done proper before release)... anyway i looked at the unboxing of shenmue3 this morning and it was just a barebone release. as well known shenmue is and as much they have hyped this i expected a bit of effort to be put into the package. but you dont even get a back cover art, stickers or any extra dlc. take a look at 'fist of the north star lost paradise' and 'judgement', new japanes games people barley know about and was not gonna be big sellers. but they both had the little extra, like back cover art, stickers, dlc etc with the first release.
what i have seen of shenmue3 so far, its like the developers are still stuck in their ways of making games like they did on the ps2 and ps3 in 2008 and have never improved them self. so expect clunky controls, graphics from 2009, noninnovative game mechanics and a broken unfinished game.
'preventing press from scoring the long-awaited sequel until two days after launch.'
It's sad when reviewers call what they do 'scoring' though.
⚽️⚽️⚽️
@TheBuzz no stickers?! Nooooooooooooo...!!!
alarm bells start rining. No doubt ign 12 out of 10 lol
Pretty sure by sticking to the original style / formula (assuming that is the case), it's going to receive poorer scores compared to modern titles of this day and age..
Had the fortunate pleasure of the originals back in the day and as much as I loved them, Shenmue has become a monument of its time in present day company...
That's no bad thing but wouldn't be surprised to see low scores.. So I get they are trying to protect it a little but does more harm than good in my opinion
I was watching a stream of somebody playing this on PS Live. The way he opens drawers looks very, very weird.
However good or bad it is, it's going to be one hell of an experience
There is a huge cover story on GI about this game. If anyone doesnt think its going to be amazing after reading that then i dont know what to say. More and more i think the embargo is irrelevant and hope it is
many people waiting this game since 20 years ago i am one of them. have some faith and don't pre-judge a game before trying it. the creator (yu suzuki) already achieve a life time achievement and he has a hell of a career and yes the open world was his original idea in gaming industry.
It's on the ole Christmas list for this year.
It gives me time to finally complete my PS4 backlog. I just need to finish Days Gone.
My copy has arrived. Not fired it up yet but I'm going on it as soon as I get home. Can't wait.
Quite nice to get a few hours in and make up my own mind.
sounds like PR spin, wind people up then back down and look like the good guy, I'm no cynic
@Matroska that isn't anything like what the models actually looked like in game, that looks like a Sega Saturn model
I will never understand this mindset to begin with, if you are interested in the game who give a toss what other peoples opinions are, buy the game ffs.
Oh no the metacritic is this number blah blah blah, don't let other people decide what you play and enjoy.
I think we can see how this goes...
Fans of the series will love it, newcomers not.
I'm looking forward to it, but have to wait on Steam, think Epic games hold it for a year?
@mini_piekarnik That's from a screenshot of Shenmue II. You're probably thinking of the thing on the bonus disc where the console threw all of its power at rendering just a head, that looked really good. The general graphics of both games are pretty poor, though, nowadays. I had the same thing when I played Rogue Galaxy on on PS2. Remembered it being stunning but it looks blocky and murky.
@Matroska not really any worse than any other game released in 1999
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