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Sony is officially helping with funding and development with Shenmue 3

Ty4on

Member
To "kickstart" development of the game.

Geez, people. What do you think "kickstarter" is?

Sometimes, you simply kickstart a game to be big enough to get published after showing a publisher there's enough interest to invest in the game themselves.

Kickstarter was made to fund development without the need for a third party. When other investors help it is usually expressed clearly on the page.
 

Nafai1123

Banned
Apparently all the bombs last night dried out the oceans and there's nothing but salt left around here.

Some of these posts today...smh.
 

Zophar

Member
I don't quite understand the logic. Ok, there's proven interest, but the people who are seriously interested all just bought a copy of the game and paid for it already. Now they're going to have to generate another $20-30+ million in revenue from somewhere else to recoup the costs they're going to have to add to the games budget.

I didn't help fund the Kickstarter but I'll very likely pick it up.
 

entremet

Member
Beloved abandoned games may be able to get publisher support if they demonstrate a passionate following?

Dire "ramifications" indeed.

I spend enough on gaming as is.

I don't buy used and support all three platform holders and smartphones. I love gaming. I just don't think huge corporations should get fan funds. They can afford it. Just something wrong about it.

Again just my 2c
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
I don't understand some of the sentiment is this thread. You all would rather the game never be released instead of a Kickstarter gauging the interest first and then getting funded?

This game was not going to happen without kickstarter. SEGA clearly has shown that in a decade and a half they had no interest moving forward with a new title. Forum outcry for a sequel != justification to make said sequel. They need a much wider poll to see whether it is viable or not.

If kickstarter means more games get made than I am 100% for it.

Well said. Most of the sentiment comes from platform preferred camps I wager.

All platform holders are going to adopt this. This was just the testing bed that Sony ushered in.
 
Why would they? This kickstarter is basically the new method of pre-orders.

Because they only wanted to gauge interest, if that's true, they should close it and fund the rest themselves and accept traditional preorders going forward.

They've reached their goalz now's the time to show that this wasn't just a cash grab.
 
This comes with a resounding "DUH". Anyone mad over this really think the game was going to be funded solely over Kickstarter? Sony is probably going to be responsible for half the money (or more depending on who else is involved) needed to make this game.
 
Come one Bruce, they knew full well that the KS would bring in a helluva lot more than $2m. If that's all they really wanted, they should close the KS and stop accepting any more funding... I wonder if they will now that there's official funding from Sony.

I would imagine now that they are coming out as officially backing it they will close the KS but it was the only way this game was getting made guys. The last game didn't set the world on fire sales wise and the only way for Sony to see if this has any viable true market interest and is not just the deafening cry repeated over and over by the most loyal fans was a chance to get them to put their money where their mouth was. I don't understand how people don't get this
 

MavFan619

Banned
I'm a fan of this approach. Because now Shenmue 3 is much closer to being a reality than before this approach. Thanks this approach!
 
Then take it off of Kickstarter.

Kickstarter should not be used by Giant Mega Dollars Corporations just to generate Twitter buzz.

It's scummy as all get.
 

AmuroChan

Member
I don't quite understand the logic. Ok, there's proven interest, but the people who are seriously interested all just bought a copy of the game and paid for it already. Now they're going to have to generate another $20-30+ million in revenue from somewhere else to recoup the costs they're going to have to add to the games budget.

That's not how it works. You find the investor(s) first. Then go to KS and prove that there's demand for the game. Once it meets the "trigger" amount agreed upon by the investors, the Dev gets the funding for the game.
 

Yurikerr

This post isn't by me, it's by a guy with the same username as me.
I don't see the problem here.

People that backed the project on kickstarter now have the assurance that they will get the game. And with a bonus of having the chance to participate on the development process, something that would be less probable of happening if this was a normal development. What's the difference between this and a preorder? The money you are investing will be returned in the form of a game.

With Kickstarter fans have the chance to gain lots of cool stuff even before the game is out and feel that they are responsible for the existence of the product. (Something like your name in the credits is huge for fans)

If Sony doesn't interfere in the game's team vision and their role is basically providing money and assistance (marketing, technical knowledge) i wish more projects followed this route. We would get more cool games that had the needed support.
 
Honestly i dont get people get why people are so scared or something. Its coming to PS4 and PC. We have support for one most desired sequels in gaming from a huge publisher, and all it was from a 2mill kickstarter to see how much people actually wanted it. Its coming to PS4 and PC just like the kickstarter said. Ugh.

"Because every publisher sees their not-yet-developed game as special as Shenmue with the same history and will abuse Kickstarter."

I think this is a very isolated case but people have the right to be worried no matter how ludicrous their worries are. we got Fucking shenmue. Be happy Jesus Christ.
 

commedieu

Banned
Shenmue fans seem happy to do it, they get the game from a dead franchise that they've wanted for over a decade by backing the kickstarter.

Why the concern trolling?

You know what, thats a valid point. THey raised 2 million in like, a blink of an eye. Say what you will, or concern troll all you want, but the fans have spoken with their wallets.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out in the future.
 

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
As if you need a kickstarter to gauge interest on this game ffs, haha.

Money talks. People can say they want it all they want. Even a formal survey with good sampling methodology isn't as good as actually collecting funds representing consumers willing to buy.
 

BriGuy

Member
I find it funny that MS could have fund this or more games since they have more money than sony yet they don't. That is kind of messed up.

They could have completed the original vision of the series back on the first Xbox a decade ago if they wanted to. I'm not sure it would have been a sound investment then. I'm not sure it's a sound investment now, but I certainly appreciate it.
 

Curufinwe

Member
Come one Bruce, they knew full well that the KS would bring in a helluva lot more than $2m. If that's all they really wanted, they should close the KS and stop accepting any more funding... I wonder if they will now that there's official funding from Sony.

Hahaha, stop accepting funding. You can't be serious.
 
the reality is that videogames are too expensive. i'm sure if they got rid of middle-management, i'm sure they could make uncharted 4 or shenmue on a budget of 3 million. the problem with companies is that they to act more like a family, where money is limited and you have to budget.

Are you serious????

Do you think programmers and artists should make 15K a year?

Hahahahah.
 
I don't quite understand the logic. Ok, there's proven interest, but the people who are seriously interested all just bought a copy of the game and paid for it already. Now they're going to have to generate another $20-30+ million in revenue from somewhere else to recoup the costs they're going to have to add to the games budget.

Yep. That's why I'm pretty sure the budget from Sony will be fairly limited. They need to sell this game to people outside of those who donated.
 
So it took him 3 years to learn how to make a kickstarter page? Get real.

My biggest problem with this setup is how obvious it was from the beginning. It was a way for Sony to offset the development costs.

Yu could have easily launched a KS campaign any day of the week for years and he would have gotten the same number of backers. He could have then shopped it around and seen if anyone would step up and back him.

This kind of surprise and stage does give him the biggest chance of hitting the goal though.
 
So it took him 3 years to learn how to make a kickstarter page? Get real.

My biggest problem with this setup is how obvious it was from the beginning. It was a way for Sony to offset the development costs.

Yu could have easily launched a KS campaign any day of the week for years and he would have gotten the same number of backers. He could have then shopped it around and seen if anyone would step up and back him.

Straight up, if you have proof that this was to offset development cost, please post them because this is all assumption and pretty much baseless tbh.
 

KarmaCow

Member
It does feel gross, something like what they did with Divekick seems appropriate. End the kickstarter and people can buy it if they want when it comes out. It's not like this money is going to be more than a small fraction of the budget anyway and there will be plenty of time for collector edition milking later.

I mean none of this will happen of course, they'll continue the kickstarter because it's free money but it's nice to expect things. I'm sure Kickstarter is happy with the free money.
 
Why are people complaining? The majority of people who have contributed so far are getting a copy of the game for $29.

Yes please, that's a bargain.

If anything I am happier Sony have stepped in as it pretty much guarantees its completion. The risks associated have become much, much smaller.
 

Einbroch

Banned
Then take it off of Kickstarter.

Kickstarter should not be used by Giant Mega Dollars Corporations just to generate Twitter buzz.

It's scummy as all get.

As opposed to...

Put your money where your mouth is and don't contribute. Not a company's fault that people are willing to give them up-front cash for an unproven project.

I hate Kickstarter, but if people want to dump their paycheck into it, they can.
 
so how much do you think it will cost now?
We know very little about the scale, so it's hard to say. But I think it's a fantasy to think this will get the budget of a full-on big studio game (50+ million). I think more in the 10-20 million range is a reasonable guess if you combine the KS and outside funding.
 

kevm3

Member
So you would rather have Shen Mue be a limited production limited to kickstarter funding and whatever resources Sega might have thrown at it?

If you donated some obscene amount, that's your fault, but I don't see what's the huge deal with donating $60 if you decided to do so. It's essentially 'pre-ordering' the game.
 
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