Random Shenmue IV Thoughts.

Like I said I can understand the people who feel that we need S4 like yesterday. I completely agree that the faster we get S4 the better.

The only problem with this way of thinking is the industry is a mess. Games cost more and more money the publishers are interested in making the same games again and again. In this world, there is hardly a place for Shenmue 4 unless there is another Kickstarter or a new company is going to emerge that is willing to take a risk. The old guard of the gaming world are not going to be a big help in the race for Shenmue 4.

The funding has to come from other places. And it will e hard to find such places. Not totally impossible but rather hard.
 
After this year we should mobilize to do some sort of “Finish the Shenmue story in another medium” campaign(horrible name, I know).
 
japalp said:
The absolute silence is the worst part. I just wish Yu would give fans the current situation. That would be a nice thing to give fans. Without confirmation, there is this perpetual hope that there could be a surprise announcement, similar to 2002 to 2015.

I know I’ll hear “what is he going to say?” if nothing is happening (or if something is happening) and that “why would he say he can’t get funding because it will scare off potential investors”, but I think we are past that point now.

Why keep making it harder and harder to be a Shenmue fan? I don’t get it at all.
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It's frustrating.

Any fans of Little Big Adventure here? Follow their journey to bringing their franchise back and what they have been through, the amount of times they have changed plans and how hard they had to work to find a publisher and how they have kept fans updated every step of the way.
 
SMDzero said:
Didn’t Shenmue 3 keep them in business from 2015-2019? Didn’t they make money with that? Why didn’t they segue from S3 to S4 while the iron is hot? Well because we got screwed that’s why and there ain’t no silver lining on this raincloud.

Like seriously YS are gonna waste years making a Mickey Mouse mobile game like Air Twister meanwhile all the hard work and investment they did on the Shenmue 3 assets/engine to build Shenmue 4 off of becomes stale outdated and now useless?

Seems they shot themselves in the foot. Like now they would use decade old S3 assets to make S4?

And why would a publisher let them have a go at S4 due to making a mobile game? Apples and oranges.
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You really have no idea. Do you think the decision to (in theory) not make Shenmue 4 straight off the bat from 3 is solely down to YSNET?

They need a publisher. And while they find that publisher they need to pay the bills. How do you propose they do that? Thin air?

That work on the 3 engine isn't useless. They can easily port that into UE5 update it and go from there. Bring the assets up to scratch. Use the systems and its fine.

With respect to some of the posts up here saying he 'doesn't want it'. Really? After a nigh on 15 year fight where he could easily have jacked it in before the kickstarter. None of us know what he's thinking and it would be wrong to assume anything.

But I actually do sympathise with this:
Reprise said:
It's frustrating.

Any fans of Little Big Adventure here? Follow their journey to bringing their franchise back and what they have been through, the amount of times they have changed plans and how hard they had to work to find a publisher and how they have kept fans updated every step of the way.
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Why they cannot give us something is frustrating and I say that in the most respectful way I can.
 
spud1897 said:
They need a publisher. And while they find that publisher they need to pay the bills. How do you propose they do that? Thin air?
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The only publisher that has the best chance of investing into Shenmue IV properly is Sega themselves. All roads lead back to them since they're the owner of the IP. The only way Shenmue has a chance of being made at this point is if someone with real power and influence at Sega realizes the value of the Shenmue IP and does something with it.

I read somewhere that the new CEO at Sega is an OG developer from the Dreamcast days and has said that he wants to bring that DC spirit back in today's gaming landscape. Shenmue would be a damn good way to do it in my opinion, so we'll see.
 
It's been a while since i've been here and I have lots to catch up on, but I have to tell myself that Suzuki is not a person who blabs on social media. He's very much an old school designer and I think that just because he doesn't play by modern social media rules doesn't mean he's doing *nothing*.

I'm frustrated too. I crave certainty, but the way I see it the industry is a shit show at the moment and perhaps waiting until the right moment to announce things is the way to go. Let's not forget, the day before Shenmue 3 existed was a day that Shenmue 3 DIDN'T exist. Air Twister was announced essentially out of thin air too.

I dunno; I truly believe that Suzuki *wants* to do this and I believe he would do everything in his power to make Shenmue IV a reality. However, if nothing else, I want to know that there will be some kind of closure if it doesn't come to pass.

The industry is in a weird state of flux where there's sometimes no rhyme or reason as to why something is successful or not. Will Shenmue IV sell gangbusters? Probably not, but there is a core audience and that core audience is probably all that is needed to keep things going so long as there's a sympathetic publisher who understands that core audience.

In the meantime, all we can do is empahsise we want Shenmue. The day we go quiet is the day you might as well give up.

Next week, Retro Gamer's top 100 games of all time poll comes out and i'm very confident Shenmue will rank highly (it made #3 on the last poll). It's little nuggets of good news like this we need to shout and say THIS IS A SERIES WORTH PLAYING.

But then again, what do I know? I'm an old-ish fart and I don't fit in with modern gaming (what is Helldivers 2 for example? I honestly have no interest or desire to play it. All I know it's a shooty shooty game with a yellow and blue aesthetic).
 
spud1897 said:
Why they cannot give us something is frustrating and I say that in the most respectful way I can.
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Sadly, I don’t think YS Net has the resources to hire somebody to focus exclusively on PR and community outreach. They’re down to just a handful of permanent staff at this point, from what I gather.

At this point, I’m starting to lose hope that we’ll ever seen a conclusion to Ryo’s story, let alone a Shenmue 4.
 
darksniper said:
The only publisher that has the best chance of investing into Shenmue IV properly is Sega themselves. All roads lead back to them since they're the owner of the IP. The only way Shenmue has a chance of being made at this point is if someone with real power and influence at Sega realizes the value of the Shenmue IP and does something with it.

I read somewhere that the new CEO at Sega is an OG developer from the Dreamcast days and has said that he wants to bring that DC spirit back in today's gaming landscape. Shenmue would be a damn good way to do it in my opinion, so we'll see.
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Let’s hope the VF leak is real and that YS is indeed involved - I saw something the other day (can’t remember where unfortunately) that the copyright for Outrun and After Burner had been renewed by Sega as well - they’d fit in nicely with the New Era stuff.

Maybe they’ve finally realised how important YS was to Sega - slides the odds in Shenmue’s favour a little I guess.

Or I may just be living in a fantasy world. I know nothing about copyrights or the game industry in general really.
 
SPG said:
Let’s hope the VF leak is real and that YS is indeed involved - I saw something the other day (can’t remember where unfortunately) that the copyright for Outrun and After Burner had been renewed by Sega as well - they’d fit in nicely with the New Era stuff.

Maybe they’ve finally realised how important YS was to Sega - slides the odds in Shenmue’s favour a little I guess.

Or I may just be living in a fantasy world. I know nothing about copyrights or the game industry in general really.
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If Yu Suzuki had a talented team like RGG Studio, we would have been up to Shenmue 8 by now.
 
WuyingRen said:
Sadly, I don’t think YS Net has the resources to hire somebody to focus exclusively on PR and community outreach. They’re down to just a handful of permanent staff at this point, from what I gather.

At this point, I’m starting to lose hope that we’ll ever seen a conclusion to Ryo’s story, let alone a Shenmue 4.
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I don't think he needs to. He could link something via here, Esra or another medium.

I'm intrigued to see what's happened with this other game he confirmed he was working on.
 
It will almost certainly be a retro-inspired arcade game similar to Air Twister. There was information that Yu Suzuki signed a contract for 3 Apple games. (don't know if it's a rumor)

I can't wait to find out what the genre is. Whether something similar to his old games or a totally new idea.

Of course, I also hope that a small group of people are making progress with Shenmue 4 as well.:p
 
spud1897 said:
You really have no idea. Do you think the decision to (in theory) not make Shenmue 4 straight off the bat from 3 is solely down to YSNET?

They need a publisher. And while they find that publisher they need to pay the bills. How do you propose they do that? Thin air?

That work on the 3 engine isn't useless. They can easily port that into UE5 update it and go from there. Bring the assets up to scratch. Use the systems and its fine.

With respect to some of the posts up here saying he 'doesn't want it'. Really? After a nigh on 15 year fight where he could easily have jacked it in before the kickstarter. None of us know what he's thinking and it would be wrong to assume anything.

But I actually do sympathise with this:

Why they cannot give us something is frustrating and I say that in the most respectful way I can.
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Just sayin opinions that Air Twister was the best thing YS Net could be doing "right now" were poppy with a capital Cock.

Also I think that working on mobile games makes YS Net look small and not a contender for a serious game like Shenmue 4.


thedemon1238 said:
It will almost certainly be a retro-inspired arcade game similar to Air Twister. There was information that Yu Suzuki signed a contract for 3 Apple games. (don't know if it's a rumor)

I can't wait to find out what the genre is. Whether something similar to his old games or a totally new idea.

Of course, I also hope that a small group of people are making progress with Shenmue 4 as well.:p
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I remember YS saying he used to hide his work progress from his old bosses at Sega because if they saw something on his screen that looked good they would make him ship it.

Would be cool if he had a skeleton staff "working" on these games but was secretly diverting the funds and resources to Shenmue 4.
 
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SMDzero said:
Just sayin opinions that Air Twister was the best thing YS Net could be doing "right now" were poppy with a capital Cock.

Also I think that working on mobile games makes YS Net look small and not a contender for a serious game like Shenmue 4.




I remember YS saying he used to hide his work progress from his old bosses at Sega because if they saw something on his screen that looked good they would make him ship it.

Would be cool if he had a skeleton staff "working" on these games but was secretly diverting the funds and resources to Shenmue 4.
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Is it not the best thing if it keeps the doors open? What would you rather? They do nothing and shut down?

They made Shenmue 3. Whether people like the game or not they have completed a large scale project and have the tools in place to do so again if they want to.
 
spud1897 said:
Is it not the best thing if it keeps the doors open? What would you rather? They do nothing and shut down?

They made Shenmue 3. Whether people like the game or not they have completed a large scale project and have the tools in place to do so again if they want to.
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To be honest, I would rather them risk it all and bet the house on Shenmue 4. After hearing the news about Akira Toriyama, it make me think how fast that door is closing for Shenmue. Toriyama and Suzuki are 3 years apart in age.

I apologize if I'm coming off a bit selfish, but I really believe that Shenmue 4 needs to get some sort of progress for the next 8-12 months or this series is in the danger zone. Unless Suzuki is making Space Harrier VR, I'm not really interested in any arcade or mobile titles from him right now. All I want is Shenmue 4.

The questions we need to be asking at this point is why Sega won't help Yu Suzuki finish the Shenmue story? What resources does YS need from Sega that could help him deliver a quality sequel?

I've heard that YS is affiliated in the new VF game and that a lot of the OG AM2 devs are working on the game. The Easter egg in the new Yakuza game was a great nod and acknowledgment to Shenmue.

So if this Virtua Fighter rumor is true, I think there's a decent chance that YS might have an in back at Sega and that could be VERY BENEFICIAL to the future of Shenmue. Logically speaking, IV would have ready-made upgrade to the combat if they use the new VF6 engine.

At the bare minimum, I really hope we get Ryo and Lan Di costumes for Akira and Lau for VF6 along with some Shenmue Easter eggs.
 
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I don’t know if there is an issue with Yu not having an “in” in Sega. I think it’s a matter of funding the game. Sega seems more than happy to let Yu make a Shenmue game. They’re just not going to help pay for it.

If anything I’m hoping a new Virtua Fighter will rekindle interest in the fighting aspect of Shenmue and the fact that the first two used the VF engine for the fighting gameplay.

But I will say about Shenmue being in the danger zone if we don’t hear anything soon Shenmue has been in the danger zone since the beginning, even though I agree we need something in the next several months. If we don’t in my mind the series is dead.
 
darksniper said:
To be honest, I would rather them risk it all and bet the house on Shenmue 4. After hearing the news about Akira Toriyama, it make me think how fast that door is closing for Shenmue. Toriyama and Suzuki are 3 years apart in age.

I apologize if I'm coming off a bit selfish, but I really believe that Shenmue 4 needs to get some sort of progress for the next 8-12 months or this series is in the danger zone. Unless Suzuki is making Space Harrier VR, I'm not really interested in any arcade or mobile titles from him right now. All I want is Shenmue 4.

The questions we need to be asking at this point is why Sega won't help Yu Suzuki finish the Shenmue story? What resources does YS need from Sega that could help him deliver a quality sequel?

I've heard that YS is affiliated in the new VF game and that a lot of the OG AM2 devs are working on the game. The Easter egg in the new Yakuza game was a great nod and acknowledgment to Shenmue.

So if this Virtua Fighter rumor is true, I think there's a decent chance that YS might have an in back at Sega and that could be VERY BENEFICIAL to the future of Shenmue. Logically speaking, IV would have ready-made upgrade to the combat if they use the new VF6 engine.

At the bare minimum, I really hope we get Ryo and Lan Di costumes for Akira and Lau for VF6 along with some Shenmue Easter eggs.
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We've done a video on this :)


 
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