Shenmue 3 hits Humble Monthly less than 5 months after Steam Release

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socialjeebus

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Jun 12, 2019
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So, it's not really a secret but Shenmue 3 sold poorly on Steam - less than 20,000 despite a deep day 1 discount.

The current metrics look poor too with peak concurrent players falling to below 30 for the last month (and just 16 yesterday - for comparison, Shenmue 1 & 2's peak concurrent players is 30).

Hitting a bundle, albeit a "premium" bundle, could drive more people to the series however it could also jeopardise future sales of Shenmue 3 itself through a greater proliferation of gray market keys. FWIW, Humble Monthly subscribers can choose between a Steam key and Epic key.

It's happened to a fair few Epic "exclusives" following their Steam release now - particularly those without a high profile like Closer to the Sun, Ancestors, etc.
 
Hey, it's a niche game so we gotta expect it when they get niche sales numbers.
Even the Epic Games sales were rather.. "fine" to quote their financials.
Frankly, the game was getting roasted far before Epic Games came in. I still remember faces in the first teaser trailer.
 
It should be noted that Shenmue III did end up in the top 20 of revenue generated for new releases in Nov 2020. That's despite it being on discount, a year old and releasing halfway through the month.

Tbh if it even sold 10k copies on there I'd be happy.
 
socialjeebus said:
Hitting a bundle, albeit a "premium" bundle, could drive more people to the series however it could also jeopardise future sales of Shenmue 3 itself through a greater proliferation of gray market keys.
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I don't think key reselling would have any impact at all on Shenmue III sales at this point.

The game has pretty much run its course on PC, hence it appearing in bundles. It may see a spike when the anime comes out, but in general it's done everything it's going to do. It's a niche product most people are never going to play unless they've played I & II first, and it arrived a year late on Steam.

However, more people gaining access to the game can only be seen as a positive, especially those who never would've tried it otherwise. It's a good move.
 
Ah, cool. I didn’t bother picking it up on steam since I bought the complete digital editions on Epic and GoG on their respective launches. Can’t complain about getting a steam key for it now, though.
 
My understanding is that purchasing the game supports anti-Asian racist charities, so that alone is a good thing. And hey - who knows - some people might get the game and get along with it. Who is to say we won't get new members here down the line?

It's not as if it was in the bargain bin after a couple of months after all~
 
Seems apt to me, I'm not sure what the big deal is.

Control was in the last one and that's a relatively big budget game that also came out in the latter half of 2019.

I don't think the grey market thing is a massive concern either. You can already buy Shenmue III keys for cheaper than RRP on most key websites. Happens to most games regardless; indie and AAA alike. Plus, for every purchase of the bundle, I believe a portion of money still goes to the devs/publishers, so technically it should actually be beneficial from a monetary standpoint.
 
Jibby said:
Seems apt to me, I'm not sure what the big deal is.

Control was in the last one and that's a relatively big budget game that also came out in the latter half of 2019.

I don't think the grey market thing is a massive concern either. You can already buy Shenmue III keys for cheaper than RRP on most key websites. Happens to most games regardless; indie and AAA alike. Plus, for every purchase of the bundle, I believe a portion of money still goes to the devs/publishers, so technically it should actually be beneficial from a monetary standpoint.
Click to expand...
I actually think this is somewhat positive. Humble actually saw fit to put it up as one of the headliners, and not just one of the additional 9 in the package. That's a spot usually reserved for games with some amount of cache.

I already owned the game, but I keep a subscription because I was just barely grandfathered in from the old Humble Monthly, and it's usually a steal for what I get out of it. There's potential here for the game to reach a somewhat wider audience. This is (yet another) month where they're giving out every game instead of making people choose based on their subscription level. So everyone who is signed up, even for just a month, is getting Shenmue III. (Whether they like it or not!)
 
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