Shenmue 3 Sales

[Down by Law]

Yeah that report has completely fucked it. Slow clap for the embracer group and Deep Silver for oking it. Shenmue is finished in the eyes of the typical gamer. Again.

 

[WuyingRen]

Yeah that report has completely fucked it. Slow clap for the embracer group and Deep Silver for oking it. Shenmue is finished in the eyes of the typical gamer. Again.

I’d be interested to see if Cedric makes any comment on this. He’s spoken of his satisfaction with how sales started out already and, if his recent tweets are anything to go by, still seems fairly optimistic about the prospect of a fourth game.

 

[Down by Law]

The problem is, as the whole EGS debacle proved, it's so much harder to back pedal on negative information even if the report turns out to be inaccurate, the damage is already done.

 

[WuyingRen]

The problem is, as the whole EGS debacle proved, it's so much harder to back pedal on negative information even if the report turns out to be inaccurate, the damage is already done.

Unfortunately so. Even during the Kickstarter period we had questions about Sony’s involvement that lead to a lot of negative press and noticeably slowed down the rate at which the project was being backed.

It really does feel like Shenmue is cursed sometimes, but in reality the series has just been poorly managed since day one and this report is just another instance of that.

 

[GhostTrick]

Unfortunately so. Even during the Kickstarter period we had questions about Sony’s involvement that lead to a lot of negative press and noticeably slowed down the rate at which the project was being backed.

It really does feel like Shenmue is cursed sometimes, but in reality the series has just been poorly managed since day one and this report is just another instance of that.

Ding ding ding. There's no Shenmue curse. Just a string of bad decisions. It was a bad decision to be PS4 exclusive for peanuts (an E3 showing and a marketing help that never happened). It was a bad decision to hire Awesome Japan for the KS campaign.
It was a bad decision to go Epic Store exclusive for a bag of cash that not only didn't even benefit the game nor YsNet but also killed any chance for another kickstarter.

A bad word of mouth that was never properly adressed, always in an amateurish way. And when you consider that in the end, the game ends up being decent but not amazing... Yeah.

Although with all due respect to Dojo, the sales news is on you guys. Basically, it has come down this way: Dojo -> ERA -> News sites reading ERA -> Other news outlet following. Maybe people should be more cautious when digging for informations like this and should've waited patiently for the full report.

 

[Sh3ppy]

Although with all due respect to Dojo, the sales news is on you guys. Basically, it has come down this way: Dojo -> ERA -> News sites reading ERA -> Other news outlet following. Maybe people should be more cautious when digging for informations like this and should've waited patiently for the full report.

Ooft, if that's really the case then it's a big self-induced kick in the balls.

 

[spud1897]

Ooft, if that's really the case then it's a big self-induced kick in the balls.

@GhostTrick tbf you're never going to stop people finding this sorta stuff. I'm not an advocate of publishing this sorta stuff across ERA given its rep but this was bound to happen the moment it broke on here.

There's only a certain amount of damage control we can do and all it takes is one post and boom

 

[Sh3ppy]

@GhostTrick tbf you're never going to stop people finding this sorta stuff. I'm not an advocate of publishing this sorta stuff across ERA given its rep but this was bound to happen the moment it broke on here.

There's only a certain amount of damage control we can do and all it takes is one post and boom

I’m of the mind that even if it was never posted here it would still have made the news. Gaming writers make it their business to find and write about these kind of stories.

 

[spud1897]

I’m of the mind that even if it was never posted here it would still have made the news. Gaming writers make it their business to find and write about these kind of stories.

Exactly and while I'm all for securing the future of the series by removing such posts on here it would ruin what the Dojo is, a discussion forum, for better and for worse.

 

[Sh3ppy]

Exactly and while I'm all for securing the future of the series by removing such posts on here it would ruin what the Dojo is, a discussion forum, for better and for worse.

Completely agree. Don’t think it does anyone any favours to live in ignorance or to try and suppress legitimate news.

 

[WuyingRen]

I’m of the mind that even if it was never posted here it would still have made the news. Gaming writers make it their business to find and write about these kind of stories.

I beg to differ. That report was published on January 19th without any major publications picking up on it. The day after it appears in the Dojo, it’s making headlines. You can argue that’s coincidence, but I don’t believe in coincidence.

Ding ding ding. There's no Shenmue curse. Just a string of bad decisions. It was a bad decision to be PS4 exclusive for peanuts (an E3 showing and a marketing help that never happened). It was a bad decision to hire Awesome Japan for the KS campaign.
It was a bad decision to go Epic Store exclusive for a bag of cash that not only didn't even benefit the game nor YsNet but also killed any chance for another kickstarter.

A bad word of mouth that was never properly adressed, always in an amateurish way. And when you consider that in the end, the game ends up being decent but not amazing... Yeah.

Although with all due respect to Dojo, the sales news is on you guys. Basically, it has come down this way: Dojo -> ERA -> News sites reading ERA -> Other news outlet following. Maybe people should be more cautious when digging for informations like this and should've waited patiently for the full report.

I agree with every word of this, but would actually go a step further and say that the poor decisions have been being made since the beginning of the Shenmue franchise, not just S3. The blank check production, the decision to switch production across three separate consoles, the decision to make S2 an Xbox exclusive in NA. There’s a long back catalogue of errors of judgement and poor decisions that have lead to the series being seen as an overpriced failure.

 

[Sh3ppy]

I beg to differ. That report was published on January 19th without any major publications picking up on it. The day after it appears in the Dojo, it’s making headlines. You can argue that’s coincidence, but I don’t believe in coincidence.

Possibly. I wasn’t aware it was published that far back either, so that does back up your And GT’s argument. Regardless, it’s out there now.

edit: flip flopping all over the place!

 

[spud1897]

Possibly. I wasn’t aware it was published that far back either, so that does back up your And GT’s argument. Regardless, it’s out there now.

edit: flip flopping all over the place!

Nor was I but it's a case in point. It would have got out eventually, especially after Weds.

 

[Suzaku]

Although with all due respect to Dojo, the sales news is on you guys. Basically, it has come down this way: Dojo -> ERA -> News sites reading ERA -> Other news outlet following.

I'm afraid that's a real possibility
All the data (even if just speculation) was ready here, and usually Dojo is used as the main resource for anything related to Shenmue, even by Sega...

I don't think journalist would bother into research sales number, especially for a game that is just a clickbait material for them.

You should really be careful about ERA, lots of negativity about the franchise comes from there.

 

[WuyingRen]

I'm afraid that's a real possibility
All the data (even if just speculation) was ready here, and usually Dojo is used as the main resource for anything related to Shenmue, even by Sega...

I don't think journalist would bother into research sales number, especially for a game that is just a clickbait material for them.

You should really be careful about ERA, lots of negativity about the franchise comes from there.

Yup. Resetera is a one-stop-shop for click-bait journalists.

I think it’s only natural for us to discuss these kind of things on the Shenmue forums and, for the most part, it’s probably safe for us to do so without having to worry about journalists picking up anything negative (not unless they are scouring fan forums for every game in existence).

 

[Suzaku]

Yup. Resetera is a one-stop-shop for click-bait journalists.

I think it’s only natural for us to discuss these kind of things on the Shenmue forums and, for the most part, it’s probably safe for us to do so without having to worry about journalists picking up anything negative (not unless they are scouring fan forums for every game in existence).

It's not dojo's fault of course if videogame journalism is a joke.
But probably Dojo should move every delicate discussions that can be used against the franchise, in private sub-forum that are not accessible without registration (like the spoiler forum), at least it would make the life of lazy clickbait journalists a lot harder.

 

[GhostTrick]

Ooft, if that's really the case then it's a big self-induced kick in the balls.

@GhostTrick tbf you're never going to stop people finding this sorta stuff. I'm not an advocate of publishing this sorta stuff across ERA given its rep but this was bound to happen the moment it broke on here.

There's only a certain amount of damage control we can do and all it takes is one post and boom

Now keep in mind, I'm not throwing accusations or saying that people on Dojo did sth bad or so. And while those informations were readily available... I think only die hard fans would've digged into that kind of report.

While suppressing discussions is never a good idea, I also believe that sometimes, we should also ourselves try to temper our reactions to some piece of informations and be careful with it, especially when more informations are supposed to be released in due time.

Due precaution is to be expected when sharing informations, that's something any good journalist would tell you. Hear a piece of news ? Check the source, check the facts and treat it in a responsible way. Otherwise you might react too soon and end up with the wrong headline.

 

[GhostTrick]

I beg to differ. That report was published on January 19th without any major publications picking up on it. The day after it appears in the Dojo, it’s making headlines. You can argue that’s coincidence, but I don’t believe in coincidence.

I agree with every word of this, but would actually go a step further and say that the poor decisions have been being made since the beginning of the Shenmue franchise, not just S3. The blank check production, the decision to switch production across three separate consoles, the decision to make S3 an Xbox exclusive in NA. There’s a long back catalogue of errors of judgement and poor decisions that have lead to the series being seen as an overpriced failure.

Oh, definitely. I'm not against exclusive deals by itself if it's an help for the game. But in the case of Shenmue 3 (and 2), it always felt like those were cheap deals meant to profit a few persons in the process but never the serie or the game.

 

[spud1897]

Now keep in mind, I'm not throwing accusations or saying that people on Dojo did sth bad or so. And while those informations were readily available... I think only die hard fans would've digged into that kind of report.

While suppressing discussions is never a good idea, I also believe that sometimes, we should also ourselves try to temper our reactions to some piece of informations and be careful with it, especially when more informations are supposed to be released in due time.

Due precaution is to be expected when sharing informations, that's something any good journalist would tell you. Hear a piece of news ? Check the source, check the facts and treat it in a responsible way. Otherwise you might react too soon and end up with the wrong headline.

Indeed and just to be clear I wasn't mudslinging but more agreeing with what you're saying

 

[GhostTrick]

Indeed and just to be clear I wasn't mudslinging but more agreeing with what you're saying

Yeah but reading my post again, I was afraid people would feel attacked or hurt when it wasn't my intention.

I know no one here meant any harm.