spud1897
Administrator
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2018
- Location
- England
- Favourite title
- Shenmue II
- Currently playing
- Destiny 2, Shenmue HD ;)
- PSN
- spud19870
I've been saying for months now that these yards are arguably harder than for Shenmue 3 for some of the reasons stated above but also because we now know Shenmue is a niche market game and I'd argue expectations for its performance were way too high. We also did secure a re-release that performed well and an Anime that only got cancelled because of a money grabbing merger after performing well. The series was and can still be set-up to be finished.We did do it once, but the number of voices that lent themselves to that campaign were much larger then. I just don't think there is that same lust or fire that there was. A lot of casual voices lent themselves to the number requesting Shenmue 3. It had become almost symbolic or something, it was like Half Life 3 and other unreleased sequels, with there being a mystique to it. There was a snowball effect, where a bunch of casuals (or even just people who played one or both games back in the day but weren't necessarily huge fans) jumped on board. I remember on forums back in the day "we want Shenmue 3", "Sega, release Shenmue 3" was practically a meme. All sorts of casual gamers would namedrop it as a game they wanted.
If I sound negative, it's because I am. To me, the path to securing the franchises future was laid upon us when the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter was announced. That was Yu Suzuki's moment and our moment. That was the time to save Shenmue. They and we needed to prove the demand and then prove that a Shenmue game can be a success, so that a publisher then comes on board to ensure the franchise continues. So yes, the fact that they/we failed on that does depress me. The fact that we have to fight for a Shenmue 4 depresses me. Even more so now that "we" basically amounts to a meagre number of fans left on a few social media groups and forums like this. It's not like there's an army of fans clamouring for the 4th game. If no publisher cared in 2020, or 2021, or 2022, or 2023, then realistically I don't really know what people expect to change in 2024 or beyond that will make one suddenly jump on board.
That said we lose nothing by continuing to fight - we have (in theory) nothing at the moment anyway and by going silent I can promise you that will be it. If Yu Suzuki comes out and says it's game over then I'm all for pitching and campaigning to get the story wrapped up by a manga or released as it is.
Yes it is draining - I get it and empathise as someone on the sharp end of things - but we cannot give up now.