Shenmue IV Will Happen - Here's Why!

Thing is, even as a side campaign, that's still less budget for a game in desperate need of money anywhere else.
It's a tough spot I feel. I agree because there's other elements that take precedence over an english dub for me.

If they've got all they need and it's only to fund an additional dub then I think it's ok.
 
I lived all my life with Shenmue 2 in Japanese, which was infinitely superior to the atrocious English dub of 2 anyways. I'm so used to Shenmue 1 in English though that I just didn't enjoy it as much when I tried it in Japanese.

Shenmue 3's dub was ok. You could tell they actually got real actors, which benefited the game. That said, it was borderline ruined by the poor writing and directing. It felt like they took real actors and then asked them to make it as cringy and cheesy as possible.

So with that all considered, I would 100% want Shenmue 4 to scrap the English dub - assuming it had a poor budget and limited team working on it.
 
According to Cedric Biscay, Shenmue 3 sales are “many” copies away from being enough to greenlight Shenmue 4.

Which confirms what I’ve been thinking for months, the sequel isn’t happening because Shen 3 didn’t even get close to selling enough.
 
According to Cedric Biscay, Shenmue 3 sales are “many” copies away from being enough to greenlight Shenmue 4.

Which confirms what I’ve been thinking for months, the sequel isn’t happening because Shen 3 didn’t even get close to selling enough.
Are you referring to the tweet he made today? That had a wink in it so I'd take it with a pinch of salt.


Cedric openly admitted during his Q&A that he has no idea what the sales numbers are because Deep Silver haven't provided the report yet

So in a nutshell assuming 'many copies away' is basically hyperbole because no-one knows whether it has done well enough or not. It confirms nothing one way or another.
 
I have to disagree here, he’s “an insider” with a direct contact with Yu and Ys net, whatever he says is far more accurate than any prediction we can make.
 
I have to disagree here, he’s “an insider” with a direct contact with Yu and Ys net, whatever he says is far more accurate than any prediction we can make.
And he has openly said in public that he doesn't know the sales because they've not been provided and the same goes for YSNET, they've not had the report either. Now believe what you like but I prefer to go on what information is actually there rather than making assumptions.

The wink makes it, for me, a tongue in cheek comment nothing more, nothing less.

For the record I'm not saying it has sold well enough or not for a 4th game either, it probably hasn't but until that's confirmed all this eludes to is an assumption.

EDIT: Also why would you publicly in a tweet like that basically admit Shenmue 4 isn't happening? Not exactly a good way of going about it from a professional standpoint. These sorts of tweets come across in jest. We will find out soon whether or not it has any truer meaning.
 
Its difficult because we all appreciate the mainline actors commitment to Shenmue as a series. By that I mean Corey, Lisle, Eric and Paul, given their history with us.

It's tough. While this isn't an exact science a quick google shows a VO being $200-$800 an hour. Go in the middle for Corey. $400 × 8 hours (1day) = $3200. Times that by a month that's $96,000 for 1 actor. Half that is $48,000 say Corey did it cheaper. Of course this is all guess work on my part. But for 2 actors that's upwards of $100k-$200k for essentially Corey and Brianna. Add in the other VO, director (though we're told Bill Black took a pay cut to do Shenmue III and he worked overtime as did many others to get it done) and all of a sudden you've got a massive chunk of budget gone.

So I definitely appreciate the strength of support behind the English dub but it is expensive and should Shenmue 4 have less budget then this is money, in my view, that should go elsewhere.

Heres a question, what if they offered crowdfunding to cover that specific cost. Would people cover that element on its own?

If it was more in a go-fund-me campaign, i'd chip in a bit of money. At least then, there's no stress on the VA's to give something in return (other than doing the job they're paid for).

If the deal for Shenmue IV getting made was to have it sub only to save money, then i'd help chip in for the English VO.

To be honest, I struggled with the Shenmue III English dub (and I love Corey), but I can appreciate not having it could be a bit of a dealbreaker for some.
 
It's pretty obvious Cedric was joking about. He was basically saying "ohh I don't know, you better go buy more copies of Shenmue 3 just in case ;)"
I agree Cedric wouldn’t bluntly say on Twitter the chances of Shenmue IV are down the drain, makes no sense. I think we won’t hear anything new on Shenmue until at least another year.
 
I agree Cedric wouldn’t bluntly say on Twitter the chances of Shenmue IV are down the drain, makes no sense. I think we won’t hear anything new on Shenmue until at least another year.
There might be a small announcement re the steam version but otherwise I'd agree :)
 
Wasnt the English dub already a stretch goal in the kickstarter?
 
Hi folks,
Yeah I think Cedric's tweet has not to be considered as news or anything official, I just asked to him : " how can we help to maximize the chances of a Shenmue 4 ?"
He also answered by joking as you said before like we have to sell more & more copies
Personnally I think S4 is already secured and will show its face on PS5
 
If SM4 won't be announced anytime soon we'll start losing our mental sanity

Why? For a game released in late 2019, announcing the game in 2021 seems a solid prediction.

If S4 won't happen, we shall know pretty quickly after the Steam release.
 
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