110 Industries & Yu Suzuki

Okay, so it won't be for Summer games fest.

Either before, so the S4 reveal won't be mixed within many other game news, or on June 10th, with a 110 broadcast about all their games... 🤔

To be fair, it's Yu-san's birthday, so he probably has a birthday party to go to!

Also, sad to see lots of grim drama over the last day. Life's too short for horrible negativity (God knows there's enough of it in the real world!)

Also re: Scorcese and Lynch; Scorcese is still able to commend $200m budget films whereas Lynch struggles to get $20m for his projects (and I adore both directors). I read somewhere that film budgets are either micro-budget or gargantuan-budget with no wiggle room for your lower-mid range budgets. I see games very much the same which is such a shame.
 
Well, I've said before if their intent with all of this was to ride the wave of what publicity they could get by engaging with the relatively vocal Shenmue fanbase, it wouldn't neccesarily be the best idea.

I don't expect a backfire in volatility or hostility(maybe a select few), but I think they'll see a lot less interest in their tweets when they engage.

Choices have consequences and that consequence is going to be a little less engagement going forward for them, which isn't the best for a fledgling company looking to make an impact.

Prior to this all starting, I knew nothing about Wanted: Dead. Probably not very many others did either.
 
@bcdcdude ,
I totally agree with you about negativity. It's a pity to see these, both the behaviors and for mods : a tendency to quickly push the eject button.

We're a small community of die hard fans, we have the same passion in common. But I also understand we suffer from stress in these uncertain times of waiting.

BTW, Lynch is what I love the most in Cinema. And I am sure Yu-San would skip a part of his birthday to announce Shenmue, or maybe the video will be pre-recorded. Since there won't be a live announcement with Keighley, there is no need for Yu to make a reveal live.
 
I'm convinced they have nothing to do with Shenmue IV and were just enjoying the attention and getting their name out there to promote Wanted: Dead.

Yep me too. I hope when this goes south people delete all mentions of 110 industries and boycott them. What they're doing is actually quite cruel.
 
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I mean you say early 60's like thats young when gaming is an industry where more and more people are retiring or taking dramatically less hands on positions in their 50's. So many absolute legend directors hung up the director positions years ago like its been 8 years since shinji mikami stopped.
As I understand it, this is a Japanese business culture thing where you age into management due to seniority. It's flexible, though - which is why you're seeing more creators in their 50s and 60s sticking around in creative roles.
 
Well, I've said before if their intent with all of this was to ride the wave of what publicity they could get by engaging with the relatively vocal Shenmue fanbase, it wouldn't neccesarily be the best idea.

I don't expect a backfire in volatility or hostility(maybe a select few), but I think they'll see a lot less interest in their tweets when they engage.

Choices have consequences and that consequence is going to be a little less engagement going forward for them, which isn't the best for a fledgling company looking to make an impact.

Prior to this all starting, I knew nothing about Wanted: Dead. Probably not very many others did either.
Prior to this I haven't given Wanted: Dead much attention, but after following their social media I think it looks very interesting. Wouldn't have happened if they hadn't teased Shenmue 4. So their strategy clearly working so far.

But if they turn out to be misleading, I think it will sour me on buying Wanted, and all their future games tbh.
 
@bcdcdude ,
I totally agree with you about negativity. It's a pity to see these, both the behaviors and for mods : a tendency to quickly push the eject button.

We're a small community of die hard fans, we have the same passion in common. But I also understand we suffer from stress in these uncertain times of waiting.

BTW, Lynch is what I love the most in Cinema. And I am sure Yu-San would skip a part of his birthday to announce Shenmue, or maybe the video will be pre-recorded. Since there won't be a live announcement with Keighley, there is no need for Yu to make a reveal live.

Oh, I was making a joke about Yu-san! I can see a recorded video (or even live Zoom-esque video) being played.

As for Lynch; I adore him. He's one of the few directors where if I don't understand something, it doesn't matter. I don't like films where i'm made to feel stupid for not understanding something, but his dream-like cinema resonates with me...couldn't tell you why though!
 
"Shenmue IV is in alpha and the facial animations are even worse than Shenmue III!"

That's what they're ideally trying to avoid.
Yes, though they could reasonably get away with a contained teaser that's either polished up to what they imagine the final game will look like (AAA vertical slice model), or a straight up Yu Suzuki piece to camera announcement with development B-roll and a logo reveal. Maybe an early piece of key art at a push.

That's *if* they're doing Shenmue IV with 110, but based on the information available to us and a long time thinking it over, I actually believe that's more likely than a new IP.
 
Even if footage is scarce and not fully prepared just the reveal of the logo "IV" that's all you need to get the ball rolling in the eyes of many loyal fans. Nothing to big but nothing to small, something that just fits the bill that immediately gets the first bunch of people on board.
 
Even if footage is scarce and not fully prepared just the reveal of the logo "IV" that's all you need to get the ball rolling in the eyes of many loyal fans. Nothing to big but nothing to small, something that just fits the bill that immediately gets the first bunch of people on board.

They could literally use the ending if Shenmue 3 but instead of saying "The story goes on" just put "Shenmue 4 in development." Or you could have a Shenmue loading screen with the Hazuki residence music in the background. Loading Shenmue 4.
 
They could literally use the ending if Shenmue 3 but instead of saying "The story goes on" just put "Shenmue 4 in development." Or you could have a Shenmue loading screen with the Hazuki residence music in the background. Loading Shenmue 4.
Honestly there's so many ways they can do this without giving too much away. If it is indeed happening and is truly on the cards you might find that one possible scenario is yu in the background saying "no not yet." We know his a perfectionist and would want something that ticks all of his personal boxes before getting ready to share with the world.
 
Personally I think they need to come out swinging. Kick ass trailer, the lot.

We know people will try and dunk on Shenmue but if you have something top level to show then it may well be drowned out but a decent quality trailer.
 
Tangentially, you know what I would like to see done? I'd like to see Gaming Historian put out a video on Shenmue(particularly the first game) and its impact on modern gaming.

He's got quite an audience, I like his work and it would be a great time to do it .
 
I mean you say early 60's like thats young when gaming is an industry where more and more people are retiring or taking dramatically less hands on positions in their 50's. So many absolute legend directors hung up the director positions years ago like its been 8 years since shinji mikami stopped.

Yu himself confirmed last year that he had multiple projects going on. That doesn't sound to me like someone who is about ready to jack it in and hang up his boots.

I think the man will see the Shenmue story concluded, be it via games or the anime.

Honestly I think having some optimism is better than thinking that everything is over just because 110 haven't made an announcement on Shenmue 4 yet. At least now we have some kind of hope of a Shenmue 4 whereas a few months ago we had nothing.
 
Currently shenmue is in a great place and we will definitely see it reach its final because there is now an option there in place it can either be a game conclusion or now an anime curtain call. Yu is making decisions and if you ask me, his making the right decisions for his baby. I trust him to come out on top and i have faith in him to bring us something before the year is out. Don't be so quick to think it's over guys... once upon a time it was considered to be done...but the comeback story is only just beginning and right now this fairytale is amazing that old & new fans want to see new pages materialise. Hold on to hope and more importantly your bananas. 🙏👍🍌
 
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That's *if* they're doing Shenmue IV with 110, but based on the information available to us and a long time thinking it over, I actually believe that's more likely than a new IP.
I can explain the thought process regarding the above too, if anybody is interested. Spoiler tagged it because it's a bit lengthy and didn't want to just post a wall of text.

Anyway, the reasoning:

The IP. In today's market, established IP will always be a safer bet than new IP. Shenmue is probably at its highest peak since 1999 right now and easily its most accessible. Even middling sales and returns are safer than a complete unknown, and YsNet have the rights to create all future instalments. There is no easier access to a legendary IP than this, if you want to take a chance on it.

There is, I suppose, an argument against this in all of 110's projects being new IP, but that's because none of that legacy IP are actually available to these developers. They're very much leaning into "Hey, do you like Ninja Gaiden? Well we've got a new game from some of the creators of those games" for Wanted: Dead, though. If they had access to the Ninja Gaiden IP, would they just be making one of those instead? I think so.

The technology. Shenmue IV is a direct sequel and would build on already developed code/assets. Much of that could go out the window with a new IP if it shares absolutely nothing in common with Shenmue. This is another reason why sequels and sister-IP are prevalent and a surer bet than brand new projects, because you're starting from the base of an already shipped game rather than a bunch of concepts and ideas that might not pan out.

Unless you are backed by a huge financial entity willing to take the hit if a totally new project fails, then more often than not you'll see developers looking to salvage and repackage stuff they've already built just to ease the technology burden. AM2 did this with Shenmue and Virtua Fighter. RGG Studio did this with Judgment and Yakuza. FromSoftware does this with Elden Ring/Sekiro/Bloodborne/Dark Souls/Demon Souls. What have YsNet got to hand? Shenmue assets, Shenmue code. There isn't really any point making a riskier not-Shenmue or a half-Shenmue when you could just make... Shenmue.

If you wanted to make some changes, doing them within an established IP space would still carry less inherent risk, which is why you see series gradually changing over time after several instalments.

Even with a blank cheque to create SEGA's next big game in the 1990s, Yu Suzuki decided to make an RPG spin-off of the already established and popular Virtua Fighter. Only relatively late in production did it become a new IP, and even then the VF roots run extremely deep in both its creative and technical composition.

The pitch. Shenmue IV remains the last game we know YsNet were pitching. There's nothing really more to it than that. Even if Deep Silver turned it down, they were free to continue developing it and shop around until someone else bites. We have no indication that they just gave up after the first try, and generally when you're trying to get a project made you hear plenty "No"s until you finally get a "Yes".

Knowing that 110's CEO has a high reverence for Yu Suzuki and Shenmue, and for all the other reasons above, if anybody was going to say yes to YsNet, it would be this guy.

A variable that could upset the whole theory is that YsNet's next game is something smaller and simpler than a Shenmue title. However the proven expansion of the studio indicates they're going bigger rather than smaller... or are working on two projects, which starts the speculation game all over again. It could also be that Yu doesn't actually want to do another Shenmue, but I find that hard to believe and it doesn't match his actions or words on the subject either.

Similarly, I can't predict the nature of human choice. There's no guarantee either Yu Suzuki or the 110 CEO would do what is "logical" as laid out in this post, but there's little actual incentive to take the curveball approach as I see it. Could be right, could be wrong, but if you walk through the practicalities of game creation, the logistics of financing, and what the publicly stated intentions of Yu Suzuki and the 110 CEO are... it's Shenmue IV.
 
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