Shenmue 3 Sales

[mjqjazzbar]

I know I sound like a hypocrite being what, the 1st or 2nd most active person on this forum, but it honestly sounds like some of you have been posting the same negative things against this game for five months now and somehow still manage to dedicate 1,000+ words each time. Maybe it's just time to move on? I didn't love the game--in fact I'm not sure I liked it either--but I at least feel like I still have some general interest in the series in spite of that. Maybe just focus on something more positive about the series if Shenmue 3 is that hard on your soul? You're just beating a dead horse at this point...

 

[Sonoshee]

I don't understand what they are trying to accomplish from taking a low attitude toward the game all the time anyway.
What are they getting out of it? What's the end goal? It's not doing anything productive for the series that's for sure.

 

[mjqjazzbar]

I'm not even annoyed or mad they're criticizing the game, honestly. I just can't believe they're devoting the same passion and intensity to the same shit they keep posting for months on end. Shenmue 3 isn't going to evaporate into a puff of a smoke if you keep complaining about it. It came out, you didn't like it, you explained why you didn't like it a thousand times already. What else do you hope to get out of that?

 

[Rydeen]

I don't understand what they are trying to accomplish from taking a low attitude toward the game all the time anyway.
What are they getting out of it? What's the end goal? It's not doing anything productive for the series that's for sure.

I can kind of understand their feelings toward Shenmue III. It reminds me of when Suikoden III was announced, and I spent months just watching the intro cutscene demo on repeat for hours on end, building up an immensely personalized vision of what the game would be, how it would play, what the story would cover. When it released, it was so vastly different from the vision I had constructed in my head that I completely rejected it. Every possible flaw became and indictment on the game. I hated it so much that I convinced myself the fourth and fifth games were better. A couple years after that I decided to replay all of the games in the main series, and my opinion completely flipped; Suikoden III became my favorite in the series. I doubt the end result will be the same for most of the fans who didn't enjoy Shenmue III, but I do think that's part of what fuels some of the response.

I'm not even annoyed or mad they're criticizing the game, honestly. I just can't believe they're devoting the same passion and intensity to the same shit they keep posting for months on end. Shenmue 3 isn't going to evaporate into a puff of a smoke if you keep complaining about it. It came out, you didn't like it, you explained why you didn't like it a thousand times already. What else do you hope to get out of that?

Just my personal feelings, but I think they're seeking validation for their opinions.

 

[Dg1995]

I have been not much around during the last two weeks, I have been in self quarentine for 18 days now, but going back to this thread it is like watching a bad remake of Groundhog Day

Me too.

I just hate it that this site has no room for anyone that liked Shenmue 3 more than 1 and 2.(Since in terms of gameplay, 3 managed to surpass 1 and 2 for me. Yeah combat wasn't that good but 1 and 2's combat was also bad.)

 

[spud1897]

Me too.

I just hate it that this site has no room for anyone that liked Shenmue 3 more than 1 and 2.(Since in terms of gameplay, 3 managed to surpass 1 and 2 for me. Yeah combat wasn't that good but 1 and 2's combat was also bad.)

There's plenty of room for people who liked 3 over 1 and 2. Carry on :)

 

[bcdcdude]

Maybe it's just me being an "old" gamer (i.e. growing up in the 90's), but it saddens me that the gaming industry isn't very good when it comes to appreciating legacy developers. When you think of the history of music and cinema; dozens and dozens of artists are appreciated from days of yore in a commercial sense (nearly everybody would've heard of Kubrick or Dylan without necessarily watching or listening to their works), but when it comes to gaming, it's very much less so.

Yu Suzuki's work over the 80's and 90's is pretty much infallible and yet very few new gamers have ever likely heard of him which I find shocking. The industries' greatest auteurs such as Kojima, Miyamoto etc are hardly household names either (compared to my examples above). Now is that the fault of the times we live in, or the industry itself?

Part of me wonders if most people that don't like Shenmue are annoyed they never played it the first time around; like they weren't members of some exclusive club or something.

That said, the further away I have stopped playing Shenmue III, the less I think I enjoyed it; but i'm still happy it exists and I don't regret buying as many copies as I have.

When it comes to sales of future games, Shenmue has a dedicated *incredibly hardcore* fanbase that pretty much translates to guaranteed sales; the real question is whether that is enough?

Not sure where i'm going with this (sorry, been on the beers!), but it's kinda sad really.

 

[Sput Vas Normandy]

you probably found this data on game dev tycoon

I got that one, cheers to you mate

I love how some people are saying "oh, if SIII sold only a few games, Epic won't do the deal with Yu".

Guys, it's Fumito Ueda there... DO YOU REALLY THINK ICO, SOTC AND THE LAST GUARDIAN SOLD WELL? REALLY? YOU DO? YOU THINK EPIC SAID "COOL, WE HIRED THIS GUY, NOW WE ARE GONNA MAKE SOME REAL MONEY, BITCHES"?

If you don't know it, I'll tell you: those games sold nothing. Even The Last Guardian. Only bought it 5 people of the dojo, Fumito Ueda's mother and Eurogamer's staff. That's it. It's not for the money, it's a marketing stuff. If they wanted real money, they would get Naughty dog.

MOD EDIT: Warning issued, reasons below

You people are talking about sales but there's also something different:
With that publishing initiative, Epic seems to be pursuing studios with a pedigree. And while Yu Suzuki might have renown, neither YsNet nor Shenmue III does. In fact, Shenmue III didn't garner a critical success.

That + low sales means low chance of that happening.

And while Epic doesn't seem to be in search of owning IPs, let's remember that SEGA owns the IP, which means they'd need to pay for that too.

You know, in my land we have a proverb. When you are discussing with somebody, suddenly you notice that person doesn't want to argue, because just throws shit over and over again. Doesn't care about the arguments, just always thinks the bad possibility, and when you give him solid arguments, he chooses to ignore them. We have a way to finish the conversation properly. We'd say something like this:

MOD EDIT: Inappropriate language and behaviour. Not needed. Anymore and it's a 24 hour ban.

ANDATE A LA RECALCADA CONCHA DE TU REPUTÍSIMA MADRE HIJO DE UN CAMIÓN REPLETO DE PUTAS, SOS UN TERRIBLE CHUPAPIJA DE MIERDA.

Probably the Spaniard user will get it. You dont need to use google translate, I'll do it for you. It means something like "it's useless to continue this conversation, let's share a cup of tea everybody, shall we?"

 

[Sput Vas Normandy]

You're not even replying based on the post you're quoting, but you're replying on possibly PREVIOUS posts

Wh...

WHAT the fuck?

Nathan? Did you do that Nathan? You really did it? Jeez man you are disgusting

How d...

How dare you man...

Replying somebody taking in mind his previous posts so we see how that user thinks and acts in order to use it to give coherency to the argument? Oh dear oh dear oh dear, that's nasty. I can't believe you did that. I really can't... You make me sick Nathan...

 

[Sput Vas Normandy]

I know I sound like a hypocrite being what, the 1st or 2nd most active person on this forum, but it honestly sounds like some of you have been posting the same negative things against this game for five months now and somehow still manage to dedicate 1,000+ words each time. Maybe it's just time to move on? I didn't love the game--in fact I'm not sure I liked it either--but I at least feel like I still have some general interest in the series in spite of that. Maybe just focus on something more positive about the series if Shenmue 3 is that hard on your soul? You're just beating a dead horse at this point...

Thanks for writing my thoughts. It's hard doing it in a different language. Cheers to you mate.

 

[Kenzo130]

I got that one, cheers to you mate

hahaha i thought nobody would get it

 

[TwiceFriedRice]

Me too.

I just hate it that this site has no room for anyone that liked Shenmue 3 more than 1 and 2.(Since in terms of gameplay, 3 managed to surpass 1 and 2 for me. Yeah combat wasn't that good but 1 and 2's combat was also bad.)

Say what now?

 

[24Nathan]

And yet if you readed your own article, you'd read that it was still working for a certain range of games. In the case of Shenmue I-II, the CCU at launch was around 1500 players which lines hype with that range of sales (check on steamdb).

Also, 68-69 isnt reviewing well. And it's not "subjective". That's Metacritic's own scale.

I didn't say it was the best reviewed game ever made, rather just arguing that you said it "not reviewing well, at all" was not entirely true. Again, regarding sales, the onus is on you if you're claiming something. Don't tell me to "go look for it", produce it.

As a whole, it didn't review well. It didn't review badly either mind you. But as a whole, it received mixed/average reviews.

My point. You just backtracked.

Also the fact that Valkyria Chronicles is from a popular genre is far from anecdoctical. Nearing 1 million sales and if you heard of the XCom titles, yeah, you'd know that kind of games are fairly popular on PC.

It's like saying "RTS is popular on PC ? That's anecdoctical and prove it anyway !"

As for the personal attacks, its even worse and it's proving my point:
You're not even replying based on the post you're quoting, but you're replying on possibly PREVIOUS posts and what's being said by some members. You're derailling the conversation for that reason. Then again, was I disrespectful in our exchange ? Not really. The only thing I said is that it was tiring. Not the discussion itself mind you, but as I explained, the angonisation of members who have a negative opinion. When I said that, I didn't say "wow, you people are mean" all I meant to say was "listen, I'm not doing that to troll people, to make them feel annoy or to attack them, my point isn't to shit on you" and even with that it ends up on personnal attacks.

It's not a personal attack, it's a concern. The vibe you put off with a lot of people is that you can be very condescending and arrogant in some of your posts. Do with that what you will. If you think it is a personal attack, feel free to report me to the other staff or PM one of them, or myself. I'll be happy to carry on regarding this in private.

Let's be honest here for a second: This isnt about subjective or opinions nor fact. It's about what's being said. Let's be real, would you have come to those lenghts if my post was: "It wont sell 50k, a lot more on the first month, maybe 200k, based on how similar titles have performed on Steam" ?
Of course not. Would we get all those "who cares your opinion is subjective" if some of us were just saying "Shenmue III is one of the greatest game ever made and Yu-sama is untouched when it comes to game design and direction" ?
Not really.

I don't care if you think YS's career has been terrible or the best ever. I also don't care if you think Shenmue III sold a billion copies or one copy. My only issue here is the air around either the reception or the sales of the game, and how some posts come across as wanting it to fail or be badly received. And as I said, you seem to have a superiority complex with everything regarding this topic. So that's why I jumped in. Which by the way, if we're considering my discussion as a personal attack, your putting words in my mouth regarding "Yu Suzuki - sama's untouched game design and direction". That's exactly what I'm talking about.

And no, I'm not acting like the "king of reality". We're having a discussion. And in a discussion, it's not too bad to have some certainty about some elements. Otherwise, I'd just have to write all my posts like "I'm not so sure but maybe it's a possibility that something might be true". And John Clark's answer is that it's basically demand that led to those titles being ported, since VC is one of those titles that also were from a campaign back then.

What campaign? I think there was one organized on SEGA Forums back then, but I can't remember. Been a while.

 

[Thomasina]

I know I sound like a hypocrite being what, the 1st or 2nd most active person on this forum, but it honestly sounds like some of you have been posting the same negative things against this game for five months now and somehow still manage to dedicate 1,000+ words each time. Maybe it's just time to move on? I didn't love the game--in fact I'm not sure I liked it either--but I at least feel like I still have some general interest in the series in spite of that. Maybe just focus on something more positive about the series if Shenmue 3 is that hard on your soul? You're just beating a dead horse at this point...

18 years of waiting, record breaking support on kickstarter, 5 years of development and delays and you think people should just walk away because you don't like their comments?

The community needs to get used to the split opinions instead of trying to push everyone away who doesn't say it's the best game they've ever played.

 

[Sput Vas Normandy]

18 years of waiting, record breaking support on kickstarter, 5 years of development and delays and you think people should just walk away because you don't like their comments?

The community needs to get used to the split opinions instead of trying to push everyone away who doesn't say it's the best game they've ever played.

18 years of waiting, record breaking support on kickstarter, 5 years of development and delays, and there are people that only enters to the dojo and social media to talk shit about the game, imagining the worst case scenarios about the sales of SIII and with it the possibility of a SIV, while you can clearly feel the JOY they have with the situation they imagine.

And now, this is not about saying SIII it's the best game, the dojo in a poll said mostly that it's a 7-8 game, and almost everybody thinks it's the worst of he saga.

If you can't see this, I give you 2 options:
1) you are stupid and can't see anything in front of you.
2) you are just a troll.

Pick one.

And btw I'm not a mod, so I can attack you. I want you to notice that this is a personal attack, Ghostrick. Call the cyber police, retard.

 

[TwiceFriedRice]

18 years of waiting, record breaking support on kickstarter, 5 years of development and delays, and there are people that only enters to the dojo and social media to talk shit about the game, imagining the worst case scenarios about the sales of SIII and with it the possibility of a SIV, while you can clearly feel the JOY they have with the situation they imagine.

And now, this is not about saying SIII it's the best game, the dojo in a poll said mostly that it's a 7-8 game, and almost everybody thinks it's the worst of he saga.

If you can't see this, I give you 2 options:
1) you are stupid and can't see anything in front of you.
2) you are just a troll.

Pick one.

And btw I'm not a mod, so I can attack you. I want you to notice that this is a personal attack, Ghostrick. Call the cyber police, retard.

You seem to be really angry, and I’m not sure why.

Seek help or stay of the Internet.

 

[Rydeen]

The community needs to get used to the split opinions instead of trying to push everyone away who doesn't say it's the best game they've ever played.

The question is really what the goal is, because bemoaning the game for this length of time feels like it surpasses just venting. Unless you really only want the series to wither and die now, it doesn't really help anything to demoralize the people who enjoyed SIII, and/or are still excited about new entries in the series, since if the fans quit on him, Yu Suzuki doesn't have much incentive to actually try to finish it. I actually feel like if interest dwindled enough, he would just move on to making the fantasy game he always wanted, and apparently still wants, to do.

 

[TwiceFriedRice]

The question is really what the goal is, because bemoaning the game for this length of time feels like it surpasses just venting. Unless you really only want the series to wither and die now, it doesn't really help anything to demoralize the people who enjoyed SIII, and/or are still excited about new entries in the series, since if the fans quit on him, Yu Suzuki doesn't have much incentive to actually try to finish it. I actually feel like if interest dwindled enough, he would just move on to making the fantasy game he always wanted, and apparently still wants, to do.

Wait...he wants to make a sequel to Sword of Vermillion?

 

[Rydeen]

Wait...he wants to make a sequel to Sword of Vermillion?

Not that I'm aware of. I don't remember which thread it was in to link to it, but MJQ (I think) posted an interview with YS where he was mentioning that he originally wanted to start with a fantasy game, for his first foray into console games, but didn't think it would really challenge him, so he settled for Shenmue. Apparently he's still interested in making that fantasy game in the future, though.

 

[Thomasina]

18 years of waiting, record breaking support on kickstarter, 5 years of development and delays, and there are people that only enters to the dojo and social media to talk shit about the game, imagining the worst case scenarios about the sales of SIII and with it the possibility of a SIV, while you can clearly feel the JOY they have with the situation they imagine.

And now, this is not about saying SIII it's the best game, the dojo in a poll said mostly that it's a 7-8 game, and almost everybody thinks it's the worst of he saga.

If you can't see this, I give you 2 options:
1) you are stupid and can't see anything in front of you.
2) you are just a troll.

Pick one.

And btw I'm not a mod, so I can attack you. I want you to notice that this is a personal attack, Ghostrick. Call the cyber police, retard.

I'm not ghosttrick.

I don't like your 2 options either.

The question is really what the goal is, because bemoaning the game for this length of time feels like it surpasses just venting. Unless you really only want the series to wither and die now, it doesn't really help anything to demoralize the people who enjoyed SIII, and/or are still excited about new entries in the series, since if the fans quit on him, Yu Suzuki doesn't have much incentive to actually try to finish it. I actually feel like if interest dwindled enough, he would just move on to making the fantasy game he always wanted, and apparently still wants, to do.

What's the goal with any of this? What's your goal? I guess the goal is to talk about video games. Same reason why there's tons of video game forums, and why people review games and make fan videos.

I only started playing the game in February so I haven't been complaining since November. And the complaints will continue as long as people talk about the game and the series. Shenmue 3 will always be perceived as a bad game by many people in the community. There's no time limit to that. And if you liked it, then you can talk about it as long as you want too.

I have no idea right now what I want for the rest of the series. I guess I'd need to hear Yu Suzuki talk about what went wrong with Shenmue 3 and what went right. If he comes out and talks about how great the garlic system was, or how he was satisfied with the story in Shenmue 3, I guess I'd be done with the series and just hold the first 2 games as some sacred treasure that was only possible in its time.... I don't know. But if he comes out and says he wasn't satisfied with S3 and he heard the complaints, and wants to refocus the imagining of S4 then I'm down for that.

We're in that period right now where everyone is wondering what's next, and that probably includes a bunch of people who didn't like Shenmue 3. Some of us aren't ready to walk away so you're stuck with us.