Shenmue 3 Sales

Status
Not open for further replies.
Hate to be negative but I'd say prepare for the worst. Why am I saying that? Think of how little buzz there has been around the launch. It wasn't even talked about a lot of places that weren't already hardcore into Shenmue. I just hope it sells well enough to make IV, they already have an engine so it shouldn't be as costly or time consuming. I think the core problem, if there turns out to be one, is that most of the people who were interested in Shenmue III backed it on Kickstarter and have little reason to buy it. I hope I'm wrong.
 
Kintor said:
Just as how Shenmue 1 and 2 where made back to back the same can be true of Shenmue 4 as well. Everything is already in place to start work on the next game right now. The sooner the better I say, before any team members move to other projects.
Click to expand...
I don't think Shenmue 1 and 2 were made back-to-back... didn't development on both 1 and 2 occur simultaneously?
 
SMDzero said:
I don't think Shenmue 1 and 2 were made back-to-back... didn't development on both 1 and 2 occur simultaneously?
Click to expand...
I'm super curious about this as well! I was wondering how likely is a 4 given that backed mostly funded this game, and that any profit made should help build a better bridge to the sequel with assets and the base game already built
 
SMDzero said:
I don't think Shenmue 1 and 2 were made back-to-back... didn't development on both 1 and 2 occur simultaneously?
Click to expand...

If they were worked on simultaneously, development for 2 continued well after seeing how different some of the mechanics are between the 2. So in that sense they would have been worked on back to back. But I guess that much is obvious.
 
Shenmue 3 is probably selling really well. Even the worst games have copies on the shelves. I just left Walmart and didnt see 1 copy.
 
Well we all need to ask Cedric again sometime next week. He's the only guy who would give us an indication relatively quickly.
 
Vasid said:
Hate to be negative but I'd say prepare for the worst. Why am I saying that? Think of how little buzz there has been around the launch. It wasn't even talked about a lot of places that weren't already hardcore into Shenmue. I just hope it sells well enough to make IV, they already have an engine so it shouldn't be as costly or time consuming. I think the core problem, if there turns out to be one, is that most of the people who were interested in Shenmue III backed it on Kickstarter and have little reason to buy it. I hope I'm wrong.
Click to expand...
Yeah, kickstarter alone accounted for 81k sales, which probably won't be counted in the new sales figures. Everyone here bought a retail copy outside of the kickstarter, though... right? RIGHT?
 
Sh3ppy said:
If they were worked on simultaneously, development for 2 continued well after seeing how different some of the mechanics are between the 2. So in that sense they would have been worked on back to back. But I guess that much is obvious.
Click to expand...
Well yeah work continued on Shenmue 2 when Shenmue 1 was released.

But was Yu Suzuki ever working on Shenmue 1 exclusively and not also Shenmue 2 at the same time?

The very first screenshots of Shenmue released was for the second game.

Both games were to be part of the same game but it was split into 2 mid development.. probably to recoup costs of the 47M budget to release it as 2 games instead of just 1.
 
Dietsoap said:
Everyone here bought a retail copy outside of the kickstarter, though... right? RIGHT?
Click to expand...

I have an easier way to waste my money.

SMDzero said:
But was Yu Suzuki ever working on Shenmue 1 exclusively and not also Shenmue 2 at the same time?
Click to expand...

I don't think he was ever working solely on one and not the other. Chapter 1 grew too large so had to become its own game.

I'd imagine, in that case, that Shenmue would've been separate for less than a year before release. At that point Suzuki's input would be minimal, as the bulk of the work would've already been done, and every aspect would be seen to by people in specialist roles. Likewise with Shenmue II, he apparently wasn't too heavily involved towards the end of development.

That kinda thing would be standard for a huge game though, I mean, he wouldn't exactly be expected to micro manage small tweaks to dialogue or overseeing bug fixes, that'd be the guys underneath the guys that were underneath him.
 
Vasid said:
Hate to be negative but I'd say prepare for the worst. Why am I saying that? Think of how little buzz there has been around the launch. It wasn't even talked about a lot of places that weren't already hardcore into Shenmue. I just hope it sells well enough to make IV, they already have an engine so it shouldn't be as costly or time consuming. I think the core problem, if there turns out to be one, is that most of the people who were interested in Shenmue III backed it on Kickstarter and have little reason to buy it. I hope I'm wrong.
Click to expand...
tbh its gotten more attention that I assumed it would, but I've been keeping my expectations low on reception since the Kickstarter was announced.
 
chaos said:
tbh its gotten more attention that I assumed it would, but I've been keeping my expectations low on reception since the Kickstarter was announced.
Click to expand...

Yeah this is my experience too. Just my own observations, but I see some people I never imagined playing it streaming it on twitch. If the dusty remasters got 300k+ I feel the game has enough hype, + residual fan picked up over the years + Holiday sales to do at least that & more. That's what I hope at least. You can't forget the backend sales either from China and when the game gets released to the Steam faithfuls.
 
Last edited:
I've been checking local stores since on and off...and every time I go in it looks like stock is virtually untouched on shelf. I know, I know...that means nothing especially considering there are other games on shelf that look untouched as well, but I don't know. It worries me a little.

I'm hoping for the best, but also bracing for the worst. So long as we get enough to keep us going then I'll be happy...it doesn't need to be a mainstream hit, it just needs enough to show people there is still a market and you can still do it on a similar smaller budget. I just hope for that and that alone...that there is enough of an audience to keep justifying it...that was the biggest hold up with getting Shenmue III in the first place and I don't want a repeat of that.
 
Last edited:
danielmann861 said:
I've been checking local stores since on and off...and every time I go in it looks like stock is virtually untouched on shelf. I know, I know...that means nothing especially considering there are other games on shelf that look untouched as well, but I don't know. It worries me a little.
Click to expand...
I don't know about your area, but with digital now accounting for a larger market and how little you can gauge Shenmue 3 on just some local stores, I dont know if I'd lose that much sleep over it. The Limited Run Games CE ran out in over an hour, so its above the average niche game when put into that context. I dont like comparing the Yakuza games since the two are different, but I think Shenmue will end up at or slightly below that level in terms of sales. Both probably wont be sold at the average walmart unless they get a "Greatest Hits" re-release.
 
DaMulder said:
But whatever the sales, can't they get the funding they need through Kickstarter again? I'd be more than happy to go down that path again!
Click to expand...

Considering the constant headaches and dramas that plauged III? They're gonna have a much harder time finding funding down that route, I'm afraid. People were willing to do it for III. Outside of the hardcore fanbase, even if they did go that route, they wouldn't earn anywhere near as much the second time out.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top