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Sony is officially helping with funding and development with Shenmue 3

androvsky

Member
Really not a fan of this approach.

Normally I'd agree, in general large publishers should not be hiding behind Kickstarter.

But in this case, I get the impression there was almost zero confidence in Shenmue 3 anywhere in the industry, yet the fan demand was loud enough that Sony probably felt like they should at least give the fans a chance to either put up or shut up. And they put up.
 

Kalentan

Member
It didn't say "this is basically a petition to see if interest is there"

A petition is meaningless. Anyone can spend a few minutes and type in some info and be part of a petition. They wanted to see if people would actually buy the damn thing. It's not like Dark Souls where the petition helped get a port, this is instead seeing if the game can actually be successful out of the gate.
 
Sean has been bashing kickstarter from day 1. This is about his ideology towards crowdfunding and not this specific game.

He has been bashing a lot of things apparently, is that all he does go around being passive aggressive bashing things damn. Seen him in numerous other threads, pretty gross really.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
its Sony so its fine

thats how it works these days right?
 
Some people on this very forum thought S3 KS would fail to reach even a million.

Gauging interest was necessary.

For real? The second the page launched I knew it would be funded in a MAXIMUM of five days. I don't think anyone expected this level of fervent support, but it's hard to make a case that over 31 days it never would have hit $2 million
 

SerTapTap

Member

well for one thing people look at Yooka's KS goal and think "oh, so that's what it costs to make this game!" and start shitting on other projects for having more realistic goals. Also, you know, informing consumers. They don't really need your money, they need a publisher's money which is dependant on them getting money. And that's not exactly the heart of Kickstarter's ethos. They even had a whole terms change based around "kickstarter is not a store" a couple years ago.
 
Come on are we serious here. We've been waiting 15 fucking years for this to happen and all hope was lost of this ever coming out. Are we really going to complain about this?
 
Good, this will expand the game to what it can become.. $2m would not be enough to make the Shenmue that fans deserve.

That said, so much for "This was a kickstarter because developers repeatedly asked for it to be a kickstarter." Sony was testing the waters by collecting $2m from fans.
 
Nobody actually thought Shenmue III would cost $2m to develop, did they?

What I'd like to know is what the hell was the point of the Kickstarter?

Are gamers paying for PR now?
 

Sweep14

Member
Console exclusive to PS4? Yes. But the game is not "exclusive", as it's coming out on PC as well. Unless that somehow doesn't count, that is.

And Sony will respect that, Game will be available on PC and exclusively on PS4 for the console version
 

Nickle

Cool Facts: Game of War has been a hit since July 2013
Very scummy move, I understand why people want Shenmue 3, but they shouldn't support this way of business.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
More to the point, I think this is dumb. There was never ever ever ever any doubt that the kickstarted would hit its goal in 31 days, so Sony should have just partnered from the start. There is no "gauging interest" here. The kickstarter was unnecessary

Love the revisionism. There was tons of doubt that any hypothetical shenmue kickstarter would be successful. Sega fans heard that bullcrap for years, since Yu Suzuki first started mentioning interest in the platform.
 
I don't understand the disapproval from some, you're getting fucking Shenmue with a real budget behind it. Something I never thought I'd see tbh.
 

Nestunt

Member
This isn't new, Yooka and Bloodstained are the same thing. Mighty No 9 has a publisher too though I'm unsure if it was announced before/during the KS.

what I am saying is that people who are in the fence might no longer put money in knowing there is that certainty
 

komplanen

Member
Yeah I'm not voicing a new opinion by any stretch but I too feel like things like this is the answer we need for risky games. Shenmue 3 has had more then a decade of time to be made into reality so maybe, just maybe now that things like KS exist it has a role in gauging actual interest.

Companies have learned several times over and over that people say they want something but actually throwing money into the pile speaks more than words. It's not some super good scenario for people but it's better to have tens of thousands of people to front the risks together than no one at all.
 

GameSeeker

Member
That was the "something" to gauge interest.

People actually voting with their wallet is more accurate than people claiming they will buy a game.

This is the most important thing. Plenty of folks will say on a message board or in a tweet that they really wish someone would make game "X", since words are easy. What is more important is will they buy game "X". The kickstarter proves that Shenmue fans really want Shenmue 3. The fans are voting with their wallets - capitalism at work.

Kudos to Sony for stepping up to work with Yu Suzuki to make this happen. So many other companies could have done the same, but they passed up on the opportunity. Sony shouldn't get criticized for being smarter and more aggressive than the competition.
 
If you want to play the game, how does there being a kickstarter to gauge interest change anything? They didn't know if people really wanted it enough to be profitable. They put up a kickstarter. People pay less or equal to the final retail price to show they want the game. Sony says okay people want it and it gets made.

The only way I can see this process being bad for any gamer is if they're part of a minority that wants a certain game.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Because if it's only to gauge interest and now it's clear that the interest exists, the kickstarter has no point any more.

People still get cool items if they are fans. If there is no point, then people will stop "funding".

Nobody is holding a gun to anyone's wallet.
 
Agreed on both points. I'd rather Sony be upfront about this kind of stuff. And I'd love the chance to play through the first two entries before diving into the new one.

Exactly why I want the HD ports. I've never played Shenmue and I really want too, especially since we are getting the third entry.
 

GWX

Member
I expressed my disagreement with the way things were being handled in the Salsa thread, and this confirmation just strengthens what I felt: this game didn't need a Kickstarter in the slightest, Sony could make it happen either way. The goal set for this game in the KS page probably won't cover 5% of the costs involved in the project, especially if they want to stay true to the high quality production bar the franchise set back in the day. People giving tons of money may feel like they are actually making this happening, but they are really not, Sony is.

But yay, Shenmue 3.
 

Shengar

Member
Then why the Kickstarter?

To involved the fans directly in the development?
I don't they actually need any kickstarting to be funded. The decision for kickstarter is more like marketing and novelty reasons where the fans, especially 15 years old could throw money to the something they have been waiting for so long.
 

thenexus6

Member
I thought this was obvious. Did some people really think it was entirely been funded via kickstarter? You make a campaign to show the money holders that theres interest then they invest.
 

Reset

Member
It's kinda stupid of Sony to help fund the game when it's also going to be on a different platform.
First with SFV and now with Shenmue. Sorry but these titles don't count as exclusives lol
 
Really not a fan of this approach.

I think it's fine in cases where the would very likely never be made at all without it. Sony is taking a big gamble that people still care enough about Shenmue. yeah I know how fast the kickstarter was funded but this game has serious hurdle to jump to become a big success.

The biggest of which is huge gaps in knowledge of the story and characters the fact that lots of people never even had a chance to play the second game.
 

Soi-Fong

Member
So everyone should get their money back right? Or cap at the $30 tier?

Otherwise you guys all just donated money to a corporation.

I guess the same for Bloodstained as well, or does that not count? Yooka Laylee is the same thing.

What the heck is with people against this? Sony is helping in making the game a reality. They would need at least 40 million for this game and I highly doubt they can raise all that in a Kickstarter.

Like I said, Sony could have been asses and locked it only to PS4, but they let it also go on PC.
 
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