"Striking while the iron is hot" | If we want Shenmue IV, we have to act now, not 4 years down the road

Rikitatsu

Rikitatsu

Joined
Jul 27, 2018
** This thread is for people who liked Shenmue 3 and/or want to see Shenmue IV happen, if you're one of the people who's 'done' with the franchise or whatever, this thread is not for you, kindly keep your posts outside of it.

Let us be honest, sales and reviews for Shenmue 3 are not looking too hot, any hopes that the franchise will expand it's audience are pretty much gone. So how would any publisher greenlight a sequel for this? In the end, the job falls unto us again, the fans, to keep the series alive. Just as we did with Shenmue 3.

And we have to do it NOW.

Why is that?

Because now Ysnet has a team in place, an engine in place, and assets in place, if they disband, it will be harder to get them back together again and It will be much harder to keep the series alive a few years down the road. Just as it was very hard bring back Shenmue 3. We must strike while the iron is hot.


How could you help?


- Buy multiple copies of Shenmue 3 every now and then, if you're financially able
- Buy the DLCs when they come out
- Keep the interest and campaigns going on social media, tag Deep Silver and Epic Games in your posts
- E-mail Yu Suzuki/YsNet to show your appreciation and keep their morale high


We cannot rest on our laurels thinking everything is fine and some publisher will surely pick up the franchise, that's what we did in the 2000s... "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it".
 
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While I don’t think things are dire as you say, I do concur it’s important the fan base rally sooner rather than later.

I think post launch support and DLC will also indicate how much money publisher is willing to continue to support the series. I’m 50/50 if Shenmue 4 is going to happen but they need as much resources as possible to ensure we get a faithful continuation.
 
Guys if you know anyone that might play and even enjoy a copy of Shenmue 3, post about them here + their platform of choice. I don't really know anyone in real life that plays games, but I can totally gift copies to strangers online!

EDIT: Also if anyone knows any good sites to buy PC or PS4 keys, please post them here.

Rikitatsu said:
These are the ones I know:

[email protected]
[email protected]

There's also Yu Suzuki's own twitter account:

Yu Suzuki (@yu_suzuki_jp) | Twitter

The latest Tweets from Yu Suzuki (@yu_suzuki_jp): "皆さんありがとう！ Thank you all! #GoldenJoystickAwards https://t.co/utkFBAq8NZ"
twitter.com twitter.com
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Alright here is my shitass email complete with a jank google translation that will hopefully make them laugh if nothing else. I'm gonna send a tweet later.

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How about a more detailed and mid to long-term strategy including all communities? Maybe even a hashtag or periodic disclosure events
 
celsowm said:
How about a more detailed and mid to long-term strategy including all communities? Maybe even a hashtag or periodic disclosure events
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I think an updated road map from Yu Suzuki about how he intends to finish the series would put some people at ease as well.
 
Out of interest, would the sales figures for last week include all the copies shipped out to the Kickstarter backers? If not, then the units shipped figure will probably be of more interest to a prospective publisher for Shenmue 4. I'd there is no Kickstarter for 4, all of those backers who got a copy of the game as a reward, become potential customers.
 
^I'm hoping so too. Even if/when it does conclude with games I would love for YS to put together an unabridged scenario/novelization of his vision so we can see the full scope of what he wanted to achieve if he wasn't limited by resources.


I really like the idea of sending Yu (and probably Cedric too) messages of appreciation even if they're unrelated to some kind of Shenmue 4 campaign. If we could get something like #ThankYuForShenmue3! and/or #お疲れ様でした鈴木裕監督！ trending it would be a nice gesture. Even if you disliked some aspects of the game we gotta appreciate that the team is trying their best.
 
Personally, I think S3
while being a great game gameplay-wise, was very disappointing story-wise.
But do I want S4? Hell, yeah!

Whatever it is Yu needs to make S4, count me in.

Buy multiple copies of Shenmue 3 every now and then, if you're financially able
Done that. Will buy more down the line, such as the mainland China version, if I can get my hands on it.
- Buy the DLCs when they come out
Already bought the season pass.
- Keep the interest and campaigns going on social media, tag Deep Silver and Epic Games in your posts
Will do.
- E-mail Yu Suzuki/YsNet to show your appreciation and keep their morale high
Done that.
 
Nice thread. I have already bought 2 copies of the game, (my Kickstarter Version not included) and I am also going to write a thank you E mail.

Although I would not support DLC under normal circumstances ( I do not like the business model) I will make a expection for Shenmue in order to support the Franchise.
 
Unfortunately all the negative publicity of this game due to the Epic Game Store ordeal (which aside from the reaction to it, Epic did give Ys Net 3 million), which was exasperated by current gen clickbait outrage culture social media vloggers on YouTube and Twitter etc put the general public at a distance with this series; and now you have to reviews we all knew were coming which isnt helping things either. Even many Yakuza fans who you'd think would be on board with a Shenmue game (at least I am), scoffed at the very concept of this game as they felt Shenmue is a relic worth forgetting 'since we have Yakuza'. So you got the sales which may or may not be impressive; heavy on the may not, the angry 'Steam only' PC Shenmue fans who have to wait a year, possibly some bitter XBox or even Switch fans who didnt get the game and wanna shit on Sony owners and bandwagon on the hate brigade, the video game journalists picking the game apart, as well as the YouTube vloggers capitalizing on all this.
Overall its a hard climb
 
Write good reviews on Amazon and other websites. Alot of parents buy games for their kids based on review scores. My auntie has does this for her kids in the past with interesting results. I'm giving a copy of S3 to my cousin for Christmas. He really liked s1 and s2 remasters. So write a 5 star Amazon review and other websites. It will appear in the best rated category and increase chances of sales.
 
ShaveShenmue said:
Write good reviews on Amazon and other websites. Alot of parents buy games for their kids based on review scores. My auntie has does this for her kids in the past with interesting results. I'm giving a copy of S3 to my cousin for Christmas. He really liked s1 and s2 remasters. So write a 5 star Amazon review and other websites. It will appear in the best rated category and increase chances of sales.
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This is the problem though isn't it? Shenmue has never been/will never be one of those critical darlings, it's a fantastic game but reviewers don't understand the game and always give it poor scores because of that I feel, so then the mainstream video game buyer just ignores it completely, as there afraid of anything with less than a 9 out of 10
 
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