Sales of Shenmue III: Where are we now?

The whole thing is odd. I was talking to some other members in the community this morning and one raised a very good point, is this Deep Silver effectively trying to cut ties but saying nope didn't do well enough goodbye, even though sales might not have been as bad as implied.

It then begs the question why did they come on board. The major point was notoriety but I don't think they quite realised the work needed around this game to make it a success. Couple that with projections that seem stupid given the fact this was majority funded by a Kickstarter and there you have your figures. Of course the actual presentation may be very different, though I suspect it's not met their targets given the estimates we've made here, which seem OTT. E.g the re-releases sold between 250k-350k across all platforms if rumours are true. So to have upto 250k (of course we don't know for sure) as a projection for 1 quarter seems mental.

We won't throw in the towel. There's more to this than meets the eye IMO
I think you’re potentially reading into this a little too much. If Deep Silver don’t want to continue working on the series, they don’t owe anybody an explanation. They’re a publicly traded company and as such, the only people they have any obligation to are their shareholders. Manipulating the narrative of a shareholder event to try and tarnish the image of a game which, in all likelihood, the vast majority of their shareholders have never heard of seems like both negligence and overkill.

One could perhaps argue that common courtesy would require them to provide Yu Suzuki with a reason as to why they want to sever the relationship, but Yu Suzuki should be well aware of the actual sales numbers and will probably have spoken at length with Deep Silver as to what their expectations were for Shenmue 3 at various points before and during production. Putting on a show to justify the game’s failure to meet these expectations seems pointless when Yu Suzuki is likely already aware of whether or not the game has lived up to expectations.
 
I think you’re potentially reading into this a little too much. If Deep Silver don’t want to continue working on the series, they don’t owe anybody an explanation. They’re a publicly traded company and as such, the only people they have any obligation to are their shareholders. Manipulating the narrative of a shareholder event to try and tarnish the image of a game which, in all likelihood, the vast majority of their shareholders have never heard of seems like both negligence and overkill.

One could perhaps argue that common courtesy would require them to provide Yu Suzuki with a reason as to why they want to sever the relationship, but Yu Suzuki should be well aware of the actual sales numbers and will probably have spoken at length with Deep Silver as to what their expectations were for Shenmue 3 at various points before and during production. Putting on a show to justify the game’s failure to meet these expectations seems pointless when Yu Suzuki is likely already aware of whether or not the game has lived up to expectations.
Quite possibly, as I said it's all hearsay/discussion on my part with others but it is an interesting point.

Weds will be a teller and if not there certainly the end of year presentation which I think they do in May?
 
Quite possibly, as I said it's all hearsay/discussion on my part with others but it is an interesting point.

Weds will be a teller and if not there certainly the end of year presentation which I think they do in May?
Cedric just tweeted (in French) that he also doesn't know the sales figures and he's waiting to see the datas of Deep Silver
 
Cedric just tweeted (in French) that he also doesn't know the sales figures and he's waiting to see the datas of Deep Silver
Interesting. Hopefully Weds will reveal a bit more.
 
Even though I don't trust a report using gamestat as a source, I'm patient enough for the May end-year numbers, especiaully if they're a bit low next week. Shenmue 3 was always going to be a slow burn regardless of kickstarter. Shit, wait until the report of next fiscal year's first or second quarter when it'll be much closer to a full year since release, before judging too harsh.
 
We still got steam's "Second wind" and if that Xbox leak was true, that is a plus too. Also, if Sega answer the S1&2 HD demand on switch that's another platform for S3 to follow suit. S3 still have a few more rounds to go so don't count it out yet imo.

P.s. We can always generate a demand ourselves to get the ball rolling for a switch port too. That will give the ninty crowd exposure to this unique one of a kind IP that should def tickle their fancy.
 
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Seeing how everything's turning out, I wouldn't be surprised to see a report of 285K-315K+ Shenmue III units sold so far.

If that's so, for real, then I expect the game's lifetime sales to hover around 550K to 700K.

That, IMHO, should be enough for the right people to decide the series should continue.
 
Seeing how everything's turning out, I wouldn't be surprised to see a report of 285K-315K+ Shenmue III units sold so far.

If that's so, for real, then I expect the game's lifetime sales to hover around 550K to 700K.

That, IMHO, should be enough for the right people to decide the series should continue.
??? Have you not read any of this thread. "Seeing how everything is turning out" we are looking at less than 100k sales. Where are you getting this from?

I hope to God this game breaks even or makes a profit so we can all get we all are, now, waiting for (Shenmue 4). But I don't see that happening.
 
Seeing how everything's turning out, I wouldn't be surprised to see a report of 285K-315K+ Shenmue III units sold so far.

If that's so, for real, then I expect the game's lifetime sales to hover around 550K to 700K.

That, IMHO, should be enough for the right people to decide the series should continue.
As a staunch supporter of the game I'd be shocked to see numbers that good. If we do fantastic.

We know the Gamestat figure is low and isn't reflective of sales but I would be shocked if we saw anything much above 100k sales at this stage. We shall see. Happy to be proved wrong.
 
??? Have you not read any of this thread. "Seeing how everything is turning out" we are looking at less than 100k sales. Where are you getting this from?

I hope to God this game breaks even or makes a profit so we can all get we all are, now, waiting for (Shenmue 4). But I don't see that happening.

IMO, it's ridiculous to believe the number coming from a video game app that's known for discrepancies.

Also, IMO, it's problematic to read too much into a 3rd Party report that doesn't use hard sales data as the foundation for its conclusions.

Before we go off the deep end, we need to wait for real info to come from DS regarding Shenmue III.

I must point out this is a sentiment shared by many on this thread, including the OP.

Still, using appropriate logic & the extent of its reception, it's not a stretch to say that, at the very least, over 200K+ units have been sold.
 
As a staunch supporter of the game I'd be shocked to see numbers that good. If we do fantastic.

We know the Gamestat figure is low and isn't reflective of sales but I would be shocked if we saw anything much above 100k sales at this stage. We shall see. Happy to be proved wrong.
I honestly don't think it's below 100K units.

We know for a fact that the Shenmue series has a higher level of popularity in the US & UK than it does in Japan.

Also, around the time of the Shenmue III launch, it was discounted in America for the Thanksgiving holiday by various retailers.

That seemed to make it more attractive as a purchase at that time.

I will say this, though, Spud: if it is below 200K+ units, then it's likely around 170K.

That's not good, but it's a hell of a lot better than below 100K.
 
I honestly don't think it's below 100K units.

We know for a fact that the Shenmue series has a higher level of popularity in the US & UK than it does in Japan.

Also, around the time of the Shenmue III launch, it was discounted in America for the Thanksgiving holiday by various retailers.

That seemed to make it more attractive as a purchase at that time.

I will say this, though, Spud: if it is below 200K+ units, then it's likely around 170K.

That's not good, but it's a hell of a lot better than below 100K.
I'd take 170k after 3 months sales given all the fun and games we've put up with!
 
Seeing how everything's turning out, I wouldn't be surprised to see a report of 285K-315K+ Shenmue III units sold so far.

If that's so, for real, then I expect the game's lifetime sales to hover around 550K to 700K.

That, IMHO, should be enough for the right people to decide the series should continue.
Sounds about right to me, but again, if you look at previous quarterly reports from the Embracer group, I don’t think they’ve ever given actual sales numbers for a game. From our perspective, the quarterly report is likely to be absolutely useless.
 
Sounds about right to me, but again, if you look at previous quarterly reports from the Embracer group, I don’t think they’ve ever given actual sales numbers for a game. From our perspective, the quarterly report is likely to be absolutely useless.
Why would DS pay Embracer to
  • google search "shenmue 3 sales",
  • click the dojo thread where we're talking about gamstat
  • paste those numbers into a "sales report"
  • deliver to investors for quarterly report
When DS themselves could just tell investors how many copies they actually sold to retailers and through digital stores?? I probably have this all hilariously wrong, but that's my understanding of what's going on through skimming the thread. 👀
 
Why would DS pay Embracer to
  • google search "shenmue 3 sales",
  • click the dojo thread where we're talking about gamstat
  • paste those numbers into a "sales report"
  • deliver to investors for quarterly report
When DS themselves could just tell investors how many copies they actually sold to retailers and through digital stores?? I probably have this all hilariously wrong, but that's my understanding of what's going on through skimming the thread. 👀
That’s not too far off from it, but from what I can tell, the report in question is intended as an impartial preview for investors (hence why the Embracer group didn’t just post the figures and information themselves).

The analyst opting to use the Gamestat figures as, to be fair, Gamestat seem to be one of the only sites making a prediction, even if they’re wrong.

I’d be surprised if this forecast is included in the quarterly report because the Embracer group will have the actual sales data.
 
That doesn’t sound good :(
Good or bad I don't know.

The impression I'm getting is Cedric is putting some pressure onto Deep Silver, basically saying that the ball is in their court. Announce some figures, the fans keep asking.

Doubt they will but we shall see.
 
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