Shenmue IV Will Happen - Here's Why!

Revan said:
I get the feeling that we're a lot more active than ever in more community projects which can only be a good thing to ensure that Shenmue 4 becomes a reality.

Before Shenmue 3 was announced, we all supported any new Shenmue merchandise, participated in the tweetathon and voted for more Shenmue content in various polls.

After Shenmue 3, we're still doing the above (e.g. Shenmue 3 merch, #LetsGetShenmue4) but the Dojo now has its own podcast, there's the ongoing Shenmue World mag (which even caught the attention of Cedric and Yu), and the Dragon & Phoenix fan project.

Surely all of this is helping to communicate the fandom's continued interest in a fourth game to YS Net.
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I don’t think the fandom’s desire for a new Shenmue game has ever really been in doubt. The issue is going to be convincing a publisher that the series has the potential to penetrate a broader demographic, which without solid sales data will be a difficult task to accomplish. We can only hope that the slow trickle of Shenmue 3 sales has brought the total up to a respectable amount and that potential developers take the time to understand the game’s flaws to a point where they can see the how a great Shenmue game could perform much better.

If I’m completely honest, I’m not all that convinced myself at the minute (mainly because it will be the fourth and potentially final game in a series that most of the people they’ll be targeting won’t have played), but if the anime ends up being good enough to attract a sizable audience and sales of older Shenmue titles continue to trickle in, I think a fourth game will happen.
 
SMDzero said:
I have to admit I believe a Shenmue 4 is unlikely.
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I don't think Shenmue 4 is going to be in the pipeline any time soon, but I also don't think Yu will give up, so something will happen, eventually... I have serious doubts Shenmue 4 as a game will ever get greenlit though.
 
Nothing is set in stone yet of course but we have consider that entertainment enviroment is ultra capalitistic They just greenlight stuff that can bring in some money. They would for example never greenlight an anime based an Series nobody cares for me.

The Shenmue anime is sign that some people believe in th property. But why is that? The plot is nothing special for an anime, there have been many revenge martial arts anime before that. Shenmue is nothing special if see it from the Anime point of view. So why bother with it?

The only logical reason is that the franchise still have sooen friends with money that think it is wortwhile bothering. And that is postive. If the Anime does well shenmue 4 is likely.


S4 is way more likely than S3 ever was so it is important to think postive.
 
Here's the additional info. I'll add it to the op.

1) In an IGN interview, Suzuki stated that he believes he'll be able to make Shenmue 4

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2) Cedric and Yu Suzuki are looking for a bigger budget for Shenmue 4 to meet the standards of the modern market

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3) Famitsu asked Yu Suzuki what his new year's resolution for 2021 was, and he replied with "The Sequel to"

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4) Cedric stated during his Shenmue dojo interview with @spud1897 , that there was a Shenmue 4 video being pitched to publishers which had a lot of improvements


5) Ysnet still has their development team working full time and some have speculated that they have moved to another office. (you don't pay a development team millions to keep the lights on if they are not working on something relevant, otherwise they would have disbanded once shenmue 3 was released).

EDIT: Forum member tomboz has added some interesting points to this last statement

"Several of the more experienced people who worked on Shenmue 3 have been credited as having worked on other games since the game’s release, and, given that most games take 2-3 years plus to make, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if some of the others are currently working on other projects that are yet to be released.

I was under the impression that most of the technical team who contributed towards Shenmue 3 were contract workers, which is pretty common practice over here and in the industry in general. Also, I’m pretty sure that YSNet has moved to a cheaper office rather than a bigger one, at least if the areas of the previous and new offices are anything to go by, anyway."

However, Cedric has stated that if you're going to work on a sequel, you want to keep the team together.

Cedric "if you plan on doing a 4th installment of a game, you have to keep your team, so you need to start as soon as possible. Otherwise, the team would leave and you'd miss your opportunity to make the new game "

From this info, we can assume at the very least, the core team outside of the contract workers are still together and they have a pitch video for Shenmue 4, meaning Shenmue 4 has 100% been worked on in some capacity. and is most likely being worked on right now.

I'll double check that building situation at a later date

6) The Shenmue Anime is scheduled to be released in 2021. Previous Shenmue announcements have always been in sync with one another (Shenmue HD, Shenmue 3) - Releases linked to new trailers, etc

7) The official Koch media page continues to post about Shenmue. Although they post about a lot of other games, so this is most likely coincidental and should be taken with a massive pinch of salt

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I'll add some more stuff later
 

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ShenSun said:
5) Ysnet still has their development team working full time and some have speculated that they have moved to a bigger office. (you don't pay a development team millions to keep the lights on if they are not working on something relevant, otherwise they would have disbanded once shenmue 3 was released).
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Just curious, but what exactly are you basing this on? Several of the more experienced people who worked on Shenmue 3 have been credited as having worked on other games since the game’s release, and, given that most games take 2-3 years plus to make, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if some of the others are currently working on other projects that are yet to be released.

I was under the impression that most of the technical team who contributed towards Shenmue 3 were contract workers, which is pretty common practice over here and in the industry in general. Also, I’m pretty sure that YSNet has moved to a cheaper office rather than a bigger one, at least if the areas of the previous and new offices are anything to go by, anyway.
 
tomboz said:
Just curious, but what exactly are you basing this on? Several of the more experienced people who worked on Shenmue 3 have been credited as having worked on other games since the game’s release, and, given that most games take 2-3 years plus to make, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if some of the others are currently working on other projects that are yet to be released.

I was under the impression that most of the technical team who contributed towards Shenmue 3 were contract workers, which is pretty common practice over here and in the industry in general. Also, I’m pretty sure that YSNet has moved to a cheaper office rather than a bigger one, at least if the areas of the previous and new offices are anything to go by, anyway.
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Thanks for that, mostly, pure speculation on my part. I'll add your response to the list in my post
 
ShenSun said:
Thanks for that, mostly, pure speculation on my part. I'll add your response to the list in my post
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Nah. No need. I was just wondering if I’d missed something somewhere is all. It’s entirely possible that the core team are still together (for most of them, Shenmue 3 seems to have been their first game, so, in theory, keeping them on contract probably wouldn’t be costing much at all) and fingers crossed that’s the case.
 
I admit that I overreact a bit about the Koch stuff, but I remember Sega almost literally forcing themselves to not respond to Shenmue Tweets or even acknowledge the series’ existence for nearly a decade. I know it’s some intern or person who’s exclusively in the social media domain, but they also have to be given permission to discuss certain subjects. Anyway, neither here nor there, but I don’t think we’re being too naive for reading into it just a little… Engaging Shenmue fans isn’t a time consuming thing, but it does take attention away from their other dozens of IPs and I do wonder why they’d bother if it meant little to the company.

I am still pretty curious about the staffing situation but I think that whole area is pretty opaque from the outside. You can’t even really gain much from going through the credits as I learned a couple years ago. I also wonder if that office we came across is truly theirs or just their webhost. I suppose all will be answered in time. It’s good to think they do have an office and that it’s not a broom closet.
 
I hope I am not talking out of turn here but listening to recent Dojo interview series I believe I’ve heard @spud1897 talk about getting confirmation lights are still on at Ysnet and including confirmation of certain staff still being retained/working there.

Again draw your own conclusions but if accurate it certainly bodes well.
 
code l name said:
I hope I am not talking out of turn here but listening to recent Dojo interview series I believe I’ve heard @spud1897 talk about getting confirmation lights are still on at Ysnet and including confirmation of certain staff still being retained/working there.

Again draw your own conclusions but if accurate it certainly bodes well.
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This was from Ryan Payton's PT3 interview. At the time he said there's still a team there working and YSNET had the office.

My understanding, from several people, is that this is still the case.
 
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There's also evidence they're in a similar sized office to the last one, and according to tomboz in a cheaper area. Seems pretty good, not knowing how many staffers actually "work at Ys Net." Could just be Yu Suzuki's personal space? I suspect there's got to be at least five or six full-time Ys Netters.
 
Shenmue IV being a more game with a traditional development, and not a kickstarter, it will be announced way closer to release.
Possible a year before in the best case scenario.
The prospect of being a bigger budget game sounds great to me.
 
Yeah, I'm still hoping for next year. I'll keep a modicum of hope with the upcoming events(Sony, Gamescom, TGS, TGAs) but not a whole lot.

With Covid-19 roaring back into the spotlight across the world with that new variant, I fully expect continued impacts to video game development due to restrictions, people choosing to work from home, etc.

Probably won't see most things until next year, honestly. I know Microsoft has talked a big game of getting Halo out this year, but I doubt it, same with Horizon on Sony's end.
 
Valascaziel said:
Yeah, I'm still hoping for next year. I'll keep a modicum of hope with the upcoming events(Sony, Gamescom, TGS, TGAs) but not a whole lot.

With Covid-19 roaring back into the spotlight across the world with that new variant, I fully expect continued impacts to video game development due to restrictions, people choosing to work from home, etc.

Probably won't see most things until next year, honestly. I know Microsoft has talked a big game of getting Halo out this year, but I doubt it, same with Horizon on Sony's end.
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The coronavirus have always been in the spotlight for a year straight now, what are talking about? People for some reason forgetting that shit exist are the problem I swear.
 
code l name said:
I hope I am not talking out of turn here but listening to recent Dojo interview series I believe I’ve heard @spud1897 talk about getting confirmation lights are still on at Ysnet and including confirmation of certain staff still being retained/working there.

Again draw your own conclusions but if accurate it certainly bodes well.
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It takes teamwork to get the sequel out to Shenmue Gai. Coming to a smartphone near you
 
As long as Ys net is still active there is a chance. We cannot be sure that are planning Shenmue 4 and that they aren't working an another project but still as long as they are active there is chance. And chance is better than nothing.

I am still quite postive that something could happen at some point in the future. But I think it will take some time until we here about it.
 
Speaking of them making other games, while I'd want Ys Net to work on more IPs other than Shenmue, I think finishing the Shenmue series should be their top priority at the moment.

Shenmue will likely never get another revival like the one we're currently experiencing. Ys Net can create other games in tandem with Shenmue 4, but I'd be very nervous if they shelved Shenmue once again to entirely focus on new IPs. I don't think Shenmue could survive that.
 
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