Yu Suzuki Addresses Shenmue 3 Kickstarter Concerns
On Wednesday, Shenmue franchise mastermind Yu Suzuki took to Kickstarter to address growing criticism surrounding the crowdsourcing efforts of Shenmue III–currently at over $3.6 million across more than 45,000 backers–as revelations outside investors were funding the revival spread.
Mr. Suzuki apologized for not directly addressing the matter earlier, and directly stated Sony along with Shibuya Productions, a little known Monaco based firm that is also developing an Astro Boy reboot, are financially involved with the revival. Though Mr. Suzuki did not disclose the terms of the deals, he noted they do allow more of the Kickstarter money to go directly to development, and hitting $10 million in pledges will allow Shenmue III to have “a much larger, completely open world” to explore.
His words in full from the Kickstarter update are below:
There have been many questions concerning Shenmue 3’s budget and what outside sources will be added to the money collected through Kickstarter. I apologize for not having been more forthright in this area and would like to take this opportunity to help clarify the situation.
Ys Net and I have been putting in many long years trying to find a way to bring back a sequel that so many fans have waited so long for. After learning of Kickstarter, I knew it would be possible to get Shenmue 3 started. Wanting to make the best game possible, I also knew that I would have to look to more traditional means to obtain all the funds that would be needed to create the game I had envisioned.
Sony and Shibuya Productions have been wonderful partners because they believe in Shenmue and want to see the best for the fans and the game. Their investment in (and support of) Shenmue have helped to realize a sequel that will stand proud with its predecessors. While it is not business practice to discuss the specific details of such arrangements, I can say that with their assistance on the production and marketing end, and in Sony’s case with some publishing support as well, Ys Net is able to use more of the money we collect through Kickstarter purely for Shenmue 3’s development. It is also important to note that your funds are going strictly to Ys Net for development of Shenmue 3 – Sony and Shibuya Productions are not seeing a cent of your Kickstarter dollars.
The outpouring of support from all of you, the backers, has been so inspirational. I cannot thank you enough. Having reached our funding goal, I am excited to say that the Shenmue story will go on, and our journey with Ryo and Shenhua will continue. Fans will be able to enjoy the sequel they have waited so long for, and newcomers to the series will be introduced to a unique gaming experience.
Of course, like with any Kickstarter, additional funding will only help us make a better game. On top of everything Shenmue 3 will already bring, the Stretch Goals that I have laid out will add extra quests, events, and new gameplay systems that will make the game even more immersive and take the series to the next level. At the $5 million mark, there will be an all new gameplay feature I would be excited to be able to add to the Shenmue legacy. If we should make the $10 million Stretch Goal, a much larger, completely open world will be yours to explore.
Even if these Stretch Goals are not reached, Shenmue 3 will already be a sequel true to its name, and one we can all be proud of. It is my hope though, that together we can make this Shenmue just as revolutionary as the first two were.
I understand this statement may by late in coming. Going forward, we wish to be as open as possible concerning the game’s development. I would like to again ask for your cooperation and support in helping make Shenmue 3 the best that it can be.
Reaction to these remarks from backers and observers have remained overwhelmingly supportive.
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This is exactly why I was very concerned about Shenmue 3 being put up on Kickstarter. I’m all for the idea of the game being crowdfunded, but this execution so far has been very questionable. It’s nice to see them address the issues around this, but I still feel like there’s something iffy around this whole ordeal. If $5mil-$10mil is the ideal budget for Yu Suzuki to be able to tackle his dream perfectly, why did it start at a measly $2mil? I get that it’s for testing the waters to see if the fans will respond, and they did, but fans thought $2mil was all that was needed for Shenmue 3 to be perfect, and as a result, the budget has plateau to $3.5mil with no sign of picking up the pace. I sure hope the final results give the fans (and me) a satisfying experience, regardless of the budget, and not leave us with one of those “what could have been” moments, and so far, it seems that may be the very case.
And before anyone asks, I did help pledge.
Well, take in mind that the more people donate the bigger the budget for this game and therefore there will be more content in it, alegally.
The good news is that people get gifts for donating which include a free copy of the game at a lower price than the retail.
As you said, primarily to test the waters. It makes sense, since it’s been around 14 years since Shenmue II. They are taking a HUGE financial risk, they HAVE to know if it’s still in high demand. We showcased that with our money. Unfortunately, since they were using it for a test, the light has came that the project has backing. 2 million isn’t enough to fund Shenmue — hardcore Shenmue fans actually already knew that since past Shenmue games were multi-million dollar projects.
There’s not much iffy — it’s clear if you see what’s going on. The rest of our money now is just to make a better more revolutionary Shenmue III, which I’m down for. Outside investors will only invest so much, and you can bet those investors are going to want some of the profit, which is why you don’t want TOO many investors who are contracting a desire for a cut of the pie.
The 10 million comment =/= “This is the actual amount I need to make a good Shenmue 3”, it only means that it will be open world. Try going back to Shenmue 1 and 2 and you’ll see how limited the cities are there even with how atmospheric they are.
There’s nothing wrong with how much those games were made but the reason they cost so much to make back then were because of being not only brand new things done for that time but for Shenmue 2 they had to completely make it back from the ground up.
Anyone who doesn’t think that the kickstarter will make it worthwhile in the end hasn’t done their research on all parts of this.
Shenmue 3 is at the very minimum going to feel as ‘open’ as the older games. The additional funding is going to make it LARGER than those older games by this point.