Shenmue 3 Kickstarter Announced at E3 - Update

[mad825]

It's always been a money issue.

Correction, It's always being about the fear of not making a return.

As someone above me stated, this isn't actually being produced by Sony either, but by Suzuki's own indie company.

Where's your evidence that Sega gets none of the proceedings? IPs must have permission from the copy right owner.

 

[Scars Unseen]

It's always been a money issue.

Correction, It's always being about the fear of not making a return.

So what you're saying is that it's a money issue. I agree.

 

[hermes]

I knew it. I knew it was only a matter of time before big companies started using Kickstarter. I wasn't thinking it would be Shenmue of all games to get it, but I knew it would be something for big companies to "test the water".

This trend has been out there for some time now, Shenmue is not even the first one.

Bloodstained was partially founded by kickstarter. The plan was that publishers would found most of it if they proved there was enough public interest. Outside videogames, I remember Victoria Mars making a similar claim. I am guessing Sony made a similar deal with Suzuki for, as you say, "test the water".

And I am happy for it. I was never a fan of Shenmue (don't have a Dreamcast), but it is good to see fan favorites given a chance, and fans putting their money where their mouth is.

 

[Pinky's Brain]

They're big enough that it's an announcement on one of the most prestigious gaming events and seemingly have the full backing of Sony

They're big enough that Sony thought allowing them to use their E3 stage for some cross market advertising was a good idea, funding it ... probably not so much, given the history.

Also, making this a PS4 exclusive would be a bad idea.

 

[hentropy]

As someone above me stated, this isn't actually being produced by Sony either, but by Suzuki's own indie company.

Where's your evidence that Sega gets none of the proceedings? IPs must have permission from the copy right owner.

Sega does still own the IP, but that's a separate issue from whether or not they actually get "proceeds" from sale of the game. Even if they did, I don't much mind, Sega poured incredible amount of money into a very ambitious project only for it to fail and for them to lose money. It's sad that they lost money, since it was such a great game, so as I said before, if they do end up making some money out of this, then that's fine with me.

Keep in mind that simply owning the IP doesn't really entitle you to much by itself, it's up to the contracts they might agree to. Suzuki would have likely already had to pay for the right to use the property (even though he's the one who really made it), what kind of things that might have agreed on outside of that is up to whatever contract they signed.

This still isn't the same as Sega publishing Shenmue III, though.

 

[ckam]

It certainly feels like the company is testing whether or not audiences actually want this game to come true. In any case, I'm glad to see old creators coming back to finish the goals that they set for themselves long ago.

captcha: angel food

Yes, yes, yes. Getting hyped.

 

[kyp275]

to someone with zero knowledge of the series this just seems super fishy.

The first half of that sentence explains the second half of it.

Kickstarter is for people who don't have the money to make the things they want to make, not for corporations who just don't want to spend money on something someone else wants them to make. Anyone who gives money to this is an idiot. You are donating money to one of the most profitable corporations in the world for potentially nothing. Think about that, won't you?

Great, no problem then, since it's Yu Suzuki who doesn't have the money to make the game.

this is the sleaziest kickstarter since that effectively Hollywood movie got an indie-go-go to have it made, and then the people who donated still had to buy tickets.
in the traditional publisher developer model of game development the publishers where the ones holding the lions share of the risk, and as such they would only green light the projects that they would get the best return from, and the more risky things would be ignored. but with Kickstarter that burden is realistically put upon the backers (even though they have no real recourse if it goes to shit), but if this person has enough connections with Sony to get 2-3 minutes of their press conference then it should have just been as easy to ask them for 2mil cause a guy that could write that check without even blinking called him out on stage.

this is not only shady to announce a kickstarter at e3 at a press conference of one of the biggest players in the industry, but to then say we only need as much money as the 5th most funded project ever on kickstarter.

so currently the only risk that Sony may even face from this is a small PR hitch were "we were just exposing an indie to potential ernings" instead of any substantial financial burden.

,my prediction for next year EA comes on stage, and announces 4 kickstarter campaigns each wanting 5mil cause at least that is an evil that we can dis-respect, but not sony.

What IP does EA have that's even remotely similar to Shenmue? The kickstarter is to gauge actual interest to solicit investor support, particularly important given how terrible financially Shenmue 1/2 did. Did you actually think the 2mil is enough to make the game?

 

[The Madman]

Even if Sony or some other corp was abusing the Kickstarter system to avoid having to fund it themselves, Shenmue fans have been looking for someone to throw their money at for a long time.

Shenmue is a special case. It had been in limbo with Sega for over a decade.

I'll take your word for it, I freely admit that I don't know anything about the series or its development so I guess if the fans are happy then that's what matters. It's just really strange seeing a Kickstarter being announced via Sony's EA event for obvious reasons.

Considering from what I understand the Kickstarter has already passed its goal that advertising certainly worked at least.

 

[kyp275]

I'll take your word for it, I freely admit that I don't know anything about the series or its development so I guess if the fans are happy then that's what matters. It's just really strange seeing a Kickstarter being announced via Sony's EA event for obvious reasons.

Considering from what I understand the Kickstarter has already passed its goal that advertising certainly worked at least.

Basically, Shenmue was one of the most expensive game ever made(until GTA4 or 5, I think), and the two games were such colossal financial failures that it's commonly seen as one of the factors that drove SEGA out of the console business. Not surprising when you consider that the cost were so high that every owner of the system would've had to buy one or more copies just for SEGA to break even.

So what you have is a franchise with a couple good games that was promised to be epic(I think at one point Suzuki envisioned 10 Shenmue games), yet managed only to be epic financial disasters. With that kind of performance record, there was no chance that SEGA in its super risk-averse ways since, or any other publisher really, would ever pick this franchise back up, hence it sat in an abyss for more than a decade, the IP was more radioactive than Duke Nukem Forever.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

..even if every DC owner bought two copies at full price, it would have only broke even.

I bought two copies at full price, so I did my part. Perhaps Sony are harbouring a bit of guilt over playing a major part in the Dreamcast's demise?