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[DKHF]

http://shenmue.link/post_en/557/?en

From the official Shenmue site:

New Partner!! ＆ gamescom 2017 Update #3
Hello Everyone,

We have a major announcement today concerning our new publishing partner, and follow up details for gamescom.

Deep Silver Partnership Signed

The Shenmue III project has signed a global publishing contract with Deep Silver, the game division of the German company, Koch Media. Game fans may already be familiar with Deep Silver, as they are a trusted brand who has helped many Japanese game titles find their audiences around the world.

We are proud to have gained a wonderfully reliable partner to make sure Shenmue III reaches all its fans all over the planet.

Please see the press statement here.

(To be released at 4pm August 17th JST)

Meet & Greet at the entertainment area
Details have been confirmed for the Meet & Greet announced previously for the general admission entertainment area.

Yu Suzuki will be on hand for special Meet & Greet. Please stop on by!

Dates & times
Wednesday, August 23rd – 6:30 pm ~ 7:30 pm
Thursday, August 24th – 12:30 pm ~ 1:30 pm

Place
gamescom 2017 public area Hall 9.1 Booth B011/C010

*Please note that event times may begin slightly earlier or later depending on transit time.
*For information regarding gamescom 2017, please see their website at http://www.gamescom-cologne.com.

Two new Shenmue III images (via Gematsu)

Deep Silver press release:

Deep Silver and Ys Net Inc. Sign Global Publishing Deal
for SHENMUE III
Munich, Germany, August 17, 2017 – Deep Silver and Ys Net are excited to announce their
collaboration to publish YsNet's forthcoming, long awaited game Shenmue III.

The global publishing deal will cover the release exclusively on PlayStation®4 computer
entertainment systemand PC, both physical and digital versions.
The current release date is scheduled for the second half of 2018.

”Shenmue is one of a few game franchises that have historical value whilst continuing to
ignite passion across gamers. We are delighted to have signed this publishing partnership
and look forward to utilizing our global publishing network to maximize the potential of this
highly anticipated game," said Dr. Klemens Kundratitz, CEO of Koch Media/Deep Silver

Yu Suzuki, the director of Shenmue III and CEO of Ys Net added, ”I am very pleased to
secure this global partnership with Deep Silver, which is comprised of incredible men and
women who have a deep passion for bringing Japanese titles to the rest of the world.
Throughout this process, Deep Silver has expressed a deep passion for Japanese games,
the Shenmue franchise and its fans—this gives me further confidence in Shenmue III and
that we have found the best partner possible."

”We are very excited for the continuation of Ryo Hazuki's journey in Shenmue III, and are
confident the game will deliver the story and gameplay PlayStation fans have been waiting
for," said Florian Hunziker, Vice President of PlayStation's Third Party Relations & Developer
Technology Group. ”The global partnership between Ys Net and Deep Silver will help realize
Yu Suzuki's vision for Shenmue III—we are thrilled to see his spirit of innovation materialize
on PS4."

Industry legend, Yu Suzuki, will be attending Gamescom 2017 to attend two ”Meet & Greet"
in the public area Hall 9.1 Stand B011/C010, Wednesday evening 18:30-19:30, and
Thursday noon 12:30-13:30. He excited to meet Shenmue fans and celebrate this new
partnership with Deep Silver.

 

[pje122]

Hmm... interesting.

 

[Liliana Eileen]

Hmmm...

 

[OldMuffin]

Uh but doesn't sega own the ip? Or did they just sell it off?

 

[zxcv11223300xi]

Hmm....not SEGA?

 

[Nirolak]

From the company that only puts out 60 Metacritic or lower games comes... Shenmue III!

 

[GhostTrick]

Lol. SEGA dropped the ball. Heck, everyone dropped the ball.

From the company that only puts out 60 Metacritic or lower games comes... Shenmue III!

Now you're being unfair. They published Saint's Row 3 and 4, Metro 2033 and Last Light.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

Uh but doesn't sega own the ip? Or did they just sell it off?

Deep Silver published Persona 5 and a whole bunch of other SEGA in Europe, maybe it's something to do with that deal.

 

[DKHF]

Uh but doesn't sega own the ip? Or did they just sell it off?

Hmm....not SEGA?

SEGA has licensed the Shenmue IP to Yu Suzuki's company for this game, which I think allows them to use another publisher.

 

[MTC100]

Uh but doesn't sega own the ip? Or did they just sell it off?

They gave away the license afaik. They aren't involved but will likely get a cut.

 

[OddSockZA]

Uh but doesn't sega own the ip? Or did they just sell it off?

SEGA's using Deep Silver as a publishing partner for Yakuza Kiwami. Probably hasn't sold the IP off.

 

[ScaryShark]

Uh but doesn't sega own the ip? Or did they just sell it off?

Hmm....not SEGA?

Suzuki licensed it from them.

“My company YSnet, we officially approached Sega a while ago, asking for the approval for the licenses,” Suzuki continued. “I was at Sega when Shenmue was made, as you may know, and they felt safe giving me the license to make the next one. They’re the reason why I was even able to make Shenmue.” When asked if Sega would be getting any percentage of profits from the eventual release of Shenmue III, Suzuki said that he couldn’t talk about the details of the deal he struck with Sega.

https://kotaku.com/getting-the-rights-to-shenmue-was-easier-than-you-d-thi-1712037863

 

[orochi91]

So what exactly is the extent of Sony's and Sega's involvement in Shenmue 3?

Suzuki licensed it from them.

https://kotaku.com/getting-the-rights-to-shenmue-was-easier-than-you-d-thi-1712037863

Ah, that's interesting.

 

[Toki767]

Deep Silver seem to like publishing the major Kickstarter games.

Mighty No. 9, Wasteland 2, Bloodstained, Shenmue 3

 

[JapeMincers]

Looking at their list of games shows me that outside of a few, the majority are mostly throw away indie games. I don't expect a large marketing budget from them.

 

[GhostTrick]

So what exactly is the extent of Sony's and Sega's involvement in Shenmue 3?



Ah, that's interesting.

Limited, as it always has been said. Sony isnt doing more for Shenmue than they did for other titles helped by 3rd party production.
Marketing, technical and that's it.

As for SEGA, licensing the IP.

 

[Danneee]

https://segaretro.org/Deep_Silver

Deep Silver is publishing physical releases of Sega and Atlus games in EU since last year apparently.
So my guess is that it's because of that.

 

[Kenzodielocke]

From the company that only puts out 60 Metacritic or lower games comes... Shenmue III!

 

[CertifiedFP]

Welp, Jank Confirmed.

The only notable good games I can recall Deep Silver publishing were the ones they acquired from THQ 95% of the way into development. Followed by their sequels, successors, and remasters developed wholly on Deep Silver's dime leaving much to be desired.

And well of course the ones they localized for Europe for Sega since Sega Europe seems to have became a Steam-only publisher this gen.

 

[Mooreberg]

It is a good thing that marketing was probably not in the plans since this game's inception.

 

[Joey Jo-Jo Jr]

SEGA's using Deep Silver as a publishing partner for Yakuza Kiwami. Probably hasn't sold the IP off.

How does it come about that a company of sega's scale needs to partner with a company like Deep Silver in order to release a game?

What would such a "partnership" generally look like?

 

[OldMuffin]

Deep Silver published Persona 5 and a whole bunch of other SEGA in Europe, maybe it's something to do with that deal.

Suzuki licensed it from them.

https://kotaku.com/getting-the-rights-to-shenmue-was-easier-than-you-d-thi-1712037863

Oh alright that all makes sense then.

 

[Springy]

Now you're being unfair. They published Saint's Row 3 and 4, Metro 2033 and Last Light.

No, they put out rereleases of those games or only got involved very late in their cycle. The only thing from either one of those franchises they were involved with from day one is Gat Out of Hell. Gat Out of Hell was striking in its drop in quality.

If they're only distributing Shenmue then it won't be too concerning, I guess.

 

[MohitParty]

So Sega owns the IP, funded by Sony and Kickstarter, and published by Deep Silver. Anything else I need to add?

 

[Nirolak]

Now you're being unfair. They published Saint's Row 3 and 4, Metro 2033 and Last Light.

Two of those were THQ. When Deep Silver bought Volition, the first game fully made under Deep Silver was Agents of Mayhem, which got a 67 on Metacritic.

 

[GhostTrick]

No, they put out rereleases of those games or only got involved very late in their cycle. The only thing from either one of those franchises they were involved with from day one is Gat Out of Hell. Gat Out of Hell was striking in its drop in quality.

Gat Out of Hell was a drop in quality for other reasons though.
They also put out Dead Island and Dead Island Riptide. In any case, this is a publishing deal. Not a developpment one.

So Sega owns the IP, funded by Sony and Kickstarter, and published by Deep Silver. Anything else I need to add?

It's not funded by Sony.

 

[AlexFlame116]

Dang it this reminds me that I still need to back this game using the late backer system.

 

[LiquidSolid]

How does it come about that a company of sega's scale needs to partner with a company like Deep Silver in order to release a game?

What would such a "partnership" generally look like?

Sega butchered their European publishing arm.

 

[OldMuffin]

Lol. SEGA dropped the ball. Heck, everyone dropped the ball.






Now you're being unfair. They published Saint's Row 3 and 4, Metro 2033 and Last Light.

Saints row 3 and metro 2033 were published by THQ and the other two were practically finished when they picked up the publishing rights.

 

[Springy]

Gat Out of Hell was a drop in quality for other reasons though.
They also put out Dead Island and Dead Island Riptide. In any case, this is a publishing deal. Not a development one.

A publisher can have varying degrees of influence over a game's development. You're over-simplifying.

 

[CertifiedFP]

A game that was not developed with a single cent of Deep Silver's money or any editorial oversight from Deep Silver. Also, isn't it English only with FIGS left in the dust?

It is a good thing that marketing was probably not in the plans since this game's inception.

Oh god, oh god. Deep Silver's brand of edgelord marketing was the last thing this game needed.

How does it come about that a company of sega's scale needs to partner with a company like Deep Silver in order to release a game?

What would such a "partnership" generally look like?

Sega™ happen to be experts in the art of pulling-out of markets. You might know them famously for spectacularly pulling out of being a 1st Party in the 2000's, and pulling out of localizing their own titles in the 2010's until they bought Atlus to replace their literally nonexistent localization teams they had fired and laid off entirely. Well, pulling out of the console market as a whole in Europe and being a Steam-only publisher was just the natural progression of things at Sega™.

 

[Foffy]

Deep Silver seem to like publishing the major Kickstarter games.

Mighty No. 9, Wasteland 2, Bloodstained, Shenmue 3

Isn't Bloodstained 505 Games?

 

[duckroll]

Wait does this mean that Deep Silver is going to put out really nice retail copies and LEs before backers get any physical game and they aren't eligible to get the retail ones?! MN9-2?

 

[Leafhopper]

Is it really that surprising that Sega isn't going to publish Shenmue 3 considering how expensive those games were at the time.

 

[duckroll]

Is it really that surprising that Sega isn't going to publish Shenmue 3 considering how expensive those games were at the time.

This statement makes no sense.

 

[GhostTrick]

Is it really that surprising that Sega isn't going to publish Shenmue 3 considering how expensive those games were at the time.

Eh yes, it is. It's their IP.

 

[Loudninja]

Sony said they going to market the PS4 version right?

Some interesting deals with this game.

 

[Shiggy]

Wait does this mean that Deep Silver is going to put out really nice retail copies and LEs before backers get any physical game and they aren't eligible to get the retail ones?! MN9-2?

Yes, that's what Koch Media usually does when publishing Kickstarter games, not just with MN9.

 

[Menome]

So, from that older thread, who's going to apologise to Ben Barrett first for calling him a hack over the suggestion that the Kickstarter wasn't going to cover the whole funding amount?

 

[Zukkoyaki]

Deep Silver is a prominent publisher of Japanese games in EU, so this deal isn't terribly strange. Though being a global deal is a tad surprising.

 

[JapeMincers]

Too many fingers in the pie for my liking and having a janky publisher on-board is worrying considering this is my most anticipated game of all time.

 

[GhostTrick]

So, from that older thread, who's going to apologise to Ben Barrett first for calling him a hack over the suggestion that the Kickstarter wasn't going to cover the whole funding amount?

No one ever said the Kickstarter was going to cover the whole amount. Shibuya Prod has been pretty transparent about this. Kickstarter will cover a big part, if not most of the funding amount.

 

[Leafhopper]

This statement makes no sense.

Eh yes, it is. It's their IP.

No no I get that but, they have been weird with this whole thing since this started. They are still going to get a cut from this anyway since it's their IP though.

 

[ZombiePlatypus]

Deep Silver seem to like publishing the major Kickstarter games.

Mighty No. 9, Wasteland 2, Bloodstained, Shenmue 3

Oh man. I really hope this won't line Shenmue 3's release with all the blunders that Mighty No9 had

 

[statham]

Why isn't Sony publishing it?

 

[SMD]

Why isn't Sony publishing it?

Switch Version #B3li3v3

 

[Squire]

From the company that only puts out 60 Metacritic or lower games comes... Shenmue III!

No credit for the Atlus stuff, huh?

 

[Spaghetti]

Interesting development.

Will wait to see what the deal is in the full press release (at least, the update infers one will go live literally any minute now), as previously the situation was Shibuya Productions publishes on PC (as well as co-financing the game), and Sony publish on PS4.

 

[Nirolak]

No credit for the Atlus stuff, huh?

Those are funded and overseen by Sega/Atlus itself.

 

[Q8D3vil]

6/10's incoming