Shenmue IV Will Happen - Here's Why!

I have to admit I believe a Shenmue 4 is unlikely.

I enjoyed Shenmue 3 while I was playing it, but I haven't really felt the need to go back to it and I suspect many fans feel the same.

I really wish Shenmue 3 had had an extra two years development to add Baisha and an in-depth story driven finale to entice fans for a sequel.

So yeah, no more games... but we'll get some sort of closure, at the very least through the anime.
 
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I don't know. I feel like it's still a harder battle now than S3 was simply because S3 at least had that mystique of "what if" about it. You had the crowdfunding option and an audience that was hungry for more, but lets be honest, the response to S3 from fans and press alike was pretty lukewarm. But since S3 came and went and kind of failed to make a bigger splash than necessary, part of me does wonder if that was the last straw? I hope not. I really do hope it isn't the end.

I'm still holding onto hope. If we could will Shenmue III into existence, then we can get SIV going. I do think it's a tougher battle this time though given the tepid response to SIII. But I haven't given up hope. Just keep it relatively similar in budget to SIII and hopefully we can still get there.

I hope it's not the end. I was actually just playing a little more of SIII earlier. Still plugging away at that Platinum trophy in small doses.
 
you should never say never. S3 was also unlikely and we finally got it. People involved in the Project also did not say that there is not a Chance.

And I do not think that the critical response of part 3 matters that much. It is not like that S1 and 2 were beloved games by the Mainstream either. Nothing changend.

And Shenmue is an better shape then it ever was. The Anime for example proves that some People see pontial in that Franchise. They have not given up on it.
 
Hard disagree with the notion that S4 is less likely that S3.

When S3 came about the series was completely dead. There was no real way of quantifiably gauging demand for the title prior to the Kickstarter, there was no clear image of what a resurrected Shenmue game would actually look like and, even if the first two issues could somehow be overcome, there was no team in place to make the game.

Fast forward six years, however, and there’s now a blueprint in place for what Shenmue 4 will/could look like and a pre-assembled team of people who already have experience making a Shenmue game. The sales of Shenmue 3 and the success of the game’s Kickstarter offer a pretty clear indication of the potential demand for a fourth title and the impending anime and slow trickle of sales of the first three games provide hope that that number could easily increase between now and the game’s eventual release.

Shenmue 4 is by no means a certainty, but I think a fourth game is far more likely than the third ever was and by using some of the existing assets and ideas from its predecessor, would also be a lot easier to make. That Yu and Cedric are trying to secure a larger budget is undoubtedly slowing things down, but were they ever to switch to pitching a “bare minimum” S4, I suspect they’d secure funding almost instantly.
 
I think it's questionable based on a few factors.

We already know that no one was fronting the cash for SIII for a long time. It was thanks to the Kickstarter that it even happened, otherwise, if not for that KS, III would not have been. No one was fronting the cash until we fronted the cash ourselves to show there was interest.

The reason I think SIV is gonna be a harder sell boils down to the fact that there is no KS to help it out this time. Leading to the question that lingers; who's ponying the cash for Shenmue IV? Who's gonna pony up the money especially considering the lukewarm reception to SIII from both fans, gamers and press alike? The game didn't exactly sell like hot cakes on release. Hell, within the month of release, the price was knocked down to try and entice sales.

I think based on that, it's gonna be a hard sell for any publisher to front the cash for a game that may not return their investment. I fear it's back to square one.

I'm not saying it's not gonna happen. Certainly there is a flip side to the argument that the game had already made $6 million in its KS state proving the fanbase was more than willing to pony up the cash to make it happen and that could play in favor for someone to put the money down and make Shenmue IV. But at the same time, it presumably cost somewhere around $20 million to make Shenmue III as is. (? -- not sure about the actual number but that was the last I heard).

Now granted, I don't know how many copies of Shenmue III have been sold nor do I know if it even made a profit or is still in the red trying to recover its losses, but it is something to take into note when considering "who's gonna pony up the cash to make it happen?"

The reason I say its a harder sell than SIII is because SIII at least had the KS to show there was interest and get further investment...but I worry if they can find investment for SIV based on the somewhat lukewarm reception that SIII had. I just think it's gonna be another battle.

But I certainly don't want to lose hope. Like I said, SIII happened against all hopes so I certainly haven't given up hope in SIV happening. The tools are certainly there. They have the systems and assets built and ready to be further expanded on. I think SIV could be something awesome now that they have their heads wrapped around Unreal and have the tools in place to do more with it.

I just hope someone is willing to pony up the cash to make it happen but based on the sales and reception of SIII, I just think it's gonna be a hard sell.

But we will see...you can't discredit the interest in the series is still here and maybe the sales of SIII aren't as bad as I fear and hopefully someone is willing to invest in another game. I mean I'm hoping it happens. I certainly want SIV to happen.
 
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I think it's questionable based on a few factors.

We already know that no one was fronting the cash for SIII for a long time. It was thanks to the Kickstarter that it even happened, otherwise, if not for that KS, III would not have been. No one was fronting the cash until we fronted the cash ourselves to show there was interest.

The reason I think SIV is gonna be a harder sell boils down to the fact that there is no KS to help it out this time. Leading to the question that lingers; who's ponying the cash for Shenmue IV? Who's gonna pony up the money especially considering the lukewarm reception to SIII from both fans, gamers and press alike? The game didn't exactly sell like hot cakes on release. Hell, within the month of release, the price was knocked down to try and entice sales.

I think based on that, it's gonna be a hard sell for any publisher to front the cash for a game that may not return their investment. I fear it's back to square one.

I'm not saying it's not gonna happen. Certainly there is a flip side to the argument that the game had already made $6 million in its KS state proving the fanbase was more than willing to pony up the cash to make it happen and that could play in favor for someone to put the money down and make Shenmue IV. But at the same time, it presumably cost somewhere around $20 million to make Shenmue III as is. (? -- not sure about the actual number but that was the last I heard).

Now granted, I don't know how many copies of Shenmue III have been sold nor do I know if it even made a profit or is still in the red trying to recover its losses, but it is something to take into note when considering "who's gonna pony up the cash to make it happen?"

The reason I say its a harder sell than SIII is because SIII at least had the KS to show there was interest and get further investment...but I worry if they can investment for SIV based on the somewhat lukewarm reception that SIII had. I just think it's gonna be another battle.

But I certainly don't want to lose hope. Like I said, SIII happened against all hopes so I certainly haven't given up hope in SIV happening. The tools are certainly there. They have the systems and assets built and ready to be further expanded on. I think SIV could be something awesome now that they have their heads wrapped around Unreal and have the tools in place to do more with it.

I just hope someone is willing to pony up the cash to make it happen but based on the sales and reception of SIII, I just think it's gonna be a hard sell.

But we will see...you can't discredit the interest in the series is still here and maybe the sales of SIII aren't as bad as I fear and hopefully someone is willing to invest in another game. I mean I'm hoping it happens. I certainly want SIV to happen.
Comments from the Embracer group suggest that the game made a profit and that was more than a year ago. Since then, data suggests that the number of people playing the game on PlayStation has almost doubled (granted, most of these sales will have been at a huge discount) and none of this is taking into account that many fans had already purchased their copies of the game through Kickstarter. Of course, the Epic deal likely contributed a significant bulk of the game’s lifetime revenue, so that does need to be considered, but who’s to say that a potential publisher couldn’t strike a similar deal for S4?

Yu and Cedric are apparently seeking a larger budget for S4 and depending on how much they’re after, it may well be too much for potential partners. That Shenmue 3 appears to have generated at least $20 million in revenue, however, is incredibly promising for the future of the series whichever way you look at it and suggests that at the very least a bare bones S4 should be possible.
 
Comments from the Embracer group suggest that the game made a profit and that was more than a year ago. Since then, data suggests that the number of people playing the game on PlayStation has almost doubled (granted, most of these sales will have been at a huge discount) and none of this is taking into account that many fans had already purchased their copies of the game through Kickstarter. Of course, the Epic deal likely contributed a significant bulk of the game’s lifetime revenue, so that does need to be considered, but who’s to say that a potential publisher couldn’t strike a similar deal for S4?

Yu and Cedric are apparently seeking a larger budget for S4 and depending on how much they’re after, it may well be too much for potential partners. That Shenmue 3 appears to have generated at least $20 million in revenue, however, is incredibly promising for the future of the series whichever way you look at it and suggests that at the very least a bare bones S4 should be possible.
As I said, I haven't really kept up with the financials of SIII in general. So I have no idea.

I mean don't get me wrong, I do want it to happen. Most certainly want it to happen. I hope someone puts up the cash for it.
 
As I said, I haven't really kept up with the financials of SIII in general. So I have no idea.

I mean don't get me wrong, I do want it to happen. Most certainly want it to happen. I hope someone puts up the cash for it.
To be fair, we have very little solid information on sales besides the Kickstarter, a few quotes from Embracer and data from trophy sites. Though it seems all but certain that the game didn’t sell millions, it does seem like a safe assumption that when the Kickstarter, Epic deal and sales are factored in, the game recouped its development budget at the very least.
 
I struggle with the fact they’re making an entire animated series based on a series that doesn’t sell well. It doesn’t make sense. It just had to have sold a bit better than we all think.
I think that Yu and Cedric are pitching a fourth game and seemingly asking for a larger budget suggests that they believe it’s possible. They’re not stupid, so I suspect the sales were strong enough to at least give it an outside chance. Not sure we can read much into the anime though. By all accounts it was agreed before S3 was even released, so I’m not sure its sales really factor into it.

For me, the biggest indicator that there’s still a market for new Shenmue games is ironically the hate videos on YouTube. For millions of people to watch a video about something suggests that it’s still relevant and I’ve no doubt that many of those views will have converted into sales. The comment sections tend to suggest as much, anyway.
 
This is sad. I'm all for turning lemons into lemonade but.... this is a bit much.
I’d honestly be a lot more worried if Shenmue 3 had been a critical masterpiece and performed the way that it did sales wise. If a good Shenmue game had struggled to sell more than a million copies, then I’d find it incredibly difficult to see how a publisher could ever justify funding a fourth game.

However, that a highly-flawed game has been able to generate more than twenty million dollars in revenue, tens of millions of YouTube views and a steady trickle of sales more than 18 months on from its initial release serves as a pretty clear indicator that there’s a clear market for the series. It also begs the question; if a mediocre Shenmue game could perform such feats, what exactly could a good Shenmue game accomplish in this day and age?

I think for most people (potential publishers included), Shenmue 3’s issues are pretty clear to see, as too are the fixes needed to make it a better game. If I were a publisher, I’d be far more likely to invest in a project that millions of people were talking about than one that barely anybody was, especially as there’s so much room for improvement.
 
If a game "sucking" is enough to warrant one million+ views, I do think that helps. Yes, it's pathetic, but you know another Shenmue video from Sterling or that other guy would immediately get some attention. Even more if they miraculously enjoyed the next game in the series, which could always happen. Shenmue is certainly a unique series, whether you think it's good or bad. That Funhaus nonsense probably got the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter a nice amount of money; the kids who watch that stuff even started their own Shenmue subreddit that was fairly active for a while.

I don't think it was that bad of a point. There is interest there, whether it's good or bad. A game with mindshare and name recognition is worth something. That's why I continue to insist Deep Silver should have every reason to keep Shenmue in its IP Stable... I don't think tomboz is celebrating the negativity, but expressing the reality of how Shenmue manages to generate interest. Shenmue 4 seems like less of a risk than BioMutant 2 or a completely new IP, IMO. Get Sega to promote Ryo in a couple games and there you go, you've got a relevant character plus a brand new anime to go along with the new game...
 
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If a game "sucking" is enough to warrant one million+ views, I do think that helps. Yes, it's pathetic, but you know another Shenmue video from Sterling or that other guy would immediately get some attention.
Since running a shenmue discord, I can't count how many times someone has joined and their first message was something along the lines of:

"Hey guys! I'm new to shenmue. Saw a few videos on youtube about shenmue 3 and decided to give the series a go. Surprisingly I'm really enjoying it! I'm on to shenmue 3 now and don't see why it gets all the hate. It's got some drawbacks but I'm enjoying my time with it still!"

So these videos definitely do garner interest in the series, even if just a few hundred out of the million viewers decide to give the games a go. Sure positive press would bring more people, but negative press isn't a dead end and definitely brings attention to the game.
 
The Dojo isn't entirely indicative of the fanbase this game has.

Shenmue IV is probably going to happen, but I don't think it'll be seen until next year.
 
The hyperbole about Shenmue III is a double-edged sword. It'll stop some from touching the series at all, but for others they'll come to realise that the hate is dramatically overblown. The way some people talk about it you'd think the game shows you half an hour of zoological pornography before bricking your console/PC, rather than it merely being a mid-range game with associated flaws.
 
The hyperbole about Shenmue III is a double-edged sword. It'll stop some from touching the series at all, but for others they'll come to realise that the hate is dramatically overblown. The way some people talk about it you'd think the game shows you half an hour of zoological pornography before bricking your console/PC, rather than it merely being a mid-range game with associated flaws.
I take it you didn’t unlock the secret cutscene with Shenhua and the cows? Shenmoo porn at its finest…
 
I get the feeling that we're a lot more active than ever in more community projects which can only be a good thing to ensure that Shenmue 4 becomes a reality.

Before Shenmue 3 was announced, we all supported any new Shenmue merchandise, participated in the tweetathon and voted for more Shenmue content in various polls.

After Shenmue 3, we're still doing the above (e.g. Shenmue 3 merch, #LetsGetShenmue4) but the Dojo now has its own podcast, there's the ongoing Shenmue World mag (which even caught the attention of Cedric and Yu), and the Dragon & Phoenix fan project.

Surely all of this is helping to communicate the fandom's continued interest in a fourth game to YS Net.
 
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