Sega to spend $1bn... Maybe it's on shenmue 4?

$1bn is a huge amount of money. I'd agree it's likely to be something along the lines of an online looter-shooter with added DLC's etc to further funds. However that in itself won't cost $1bn.

There could be room for some Shenmue but I wondered if, considering we got the re-releases, whether they may park that idea. Unless the Anime is a huge success of course.
 
Sega is not the Sega they were in the 90s. They are different now. They won't invest tons of money in a project that did worked a well as they had hopped. The super game will be a genre the gaming kids today like. It won't be something like Shenmue. :(.
 
Spaghetti said:
Honestly if SEGA are thinking of putting up that kind of cash over the next five years in their gaming division, maybe we should start pushing for them to work with Yu Suzuki and bring Shenmue IV in-house.
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BTW for the avoidance of any doubt, I'm not saying Shenmue should be the "billion dollar game" (that's not what SEGA are doing anyway, it's a billion over five years on game dev + whatever their "super game" is, IP and studio acquisitions, technology and pipeline improvements, and "IP utilisation").

Traditionally the argument against Shenmue III was that SEGA doesn't spend big money on games anymore, Shenmue was too expensive to make, and the series was dead anyway. These three things aren't true anymore.

So maybe it's time to #BringShenmueHome.
 
At the very least, it's exciting to hear that Sega's planning on investing significant money back into game development and leveraging their IPs. We've all been frustrated with all the great IPs they've abandoned, potential sequels we never got, and a drop in quality of their software (generally speaking). I'm not entirely sure where this money is coming from, though, and I'm not sure who would be a reasonable acquisition that would make a big impact.

Whether or not Shenmue's a part of this, I'm hoping it's a stepping stone for Sega to become elite developers again.
 
Didn't they just open a new motion capture studio too?

Yu lamented the lack of motion capture facilities in the making of III...

It's tinfoil hat time peep-ole !
 
I mean maybe 1 Billion Yen but not $.

The bad news is if it was true it would be a LONG way off - it would be one hell of a game but it would take some time to burn through that development cash.
 
Down by Law said:
Didn't they just open a new motion capture studio too?

Yu lamented the lack of motion capture facilities in the making of III...

It's tinfoil hat time peep-ole !
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They had that studio when Shenmue 3 was in development.
They wouldn't give Yu the licenses to use Sega IPs as capsule toys in 3 so it doesn't surprise me that they wouldn't allow him the use of their state of the art motion capture facilities either.
 
SEGA would need a dramatic change of heart to fund Shenmue IV; it'd have to be driven by the profit generated directly from the Shenmue IP: Shenmue I & II sales, Shenmue III royalties, and merchandising (in the future, the anime). Fan demand and cultural cache has historically meant jack to SEGA when it comes to them fronting their own money.

As of right now, the only thing I would imagine moved the needle for SEGA was Shenmue I & II, which seemed to sell respectably in its first 6 months when factoring in all 3 platforms -- around 350,000, I think? -- and probably has OK legs on PSN, Steam, etc. It wouldn't surprise me if it'd hit 500,000 LTD, albeit with heavy discounts (pure speculation, of course).

But given the I & II re-release probably cost less than half of what IV would cost to fund and publish, is that even enough? Remember Cedric said he was hoping Shenmue III would sell a million copies, in order to make it worthwhile for everyone involved?
 
no way sega is spending any money making a shenmue game.

i might be wrong but i get the strong feeling that in japanese culture, when things that fail, they don't get a second chance.

shenmue was a flop in sega's eyes and ive always felt like it was blacklisted at the top level.. some other cool sega game series got the same treatment like jet set radio.. having said that, they seem to have no problem flogging shenmue tat.
 
Ya know for a company okay to make and sell Shenmue merch is telling me they are otherwise reconsidering possibility?
 
And if they aren't. Shame on them for making money off a product they don't feel can make them money. That's just my take..
 
When you compare the budget of the original Shenmue to most AAA games these days, it's almost chump change. But Sega are weird and annoyingly risk averse...which makes this news seem uncharacteristic. They are notorious for sitting on beloved IP's, but in a way it's a no brainer to ask them to fun Shenmue IV on a more modest budget. If SIII was $20m, then say $30m for IV would be reasonable; especially as the hard work of learning an engine etc has been and gone.

Still, one can dream!
 
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