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Shenmue 3 shatters Kickstarter Game records ; $2 million achieved in 8 hours

Krejlooc

Banned
A LOT.


Impotant to remember that OG Shenmue cost (allegedly) $70M. On Dreamcast.

But this is genius, IMO.

No, project Berkeley in its entirely, 4 games across two systems, cost $47 million

and that cover the cost of creating two engines + 2 entire tool set
 

McLovin

Member
Not surprised at all. Hey Capcom how about you let Keiji come back for Megaman Legends 3 on the condition that it's fully kickstarted. Wouldn't surprise me at all if that got similar results.
 

WoolyNinja

Member
I don't understand the people who are against kickstarting this game?

People wanted this game to be made and no publishers would take the chance and fund it. There is apparently a publisher whose willing to take a chance with it as long as there's some real user driven support via Kickstarter. Now people can make sure the game they wanted to be made actually happens by paying for the game ahead of time.

Nobody is forcing these people to pay $10,000. They're doing it because they have the money and want to see this game get made. I don't see a downside here? You can talk all day about how it sets a bad precedent, etc but bottom line is this game wouldn't exist without some Kickstarter money, and now it does.
 

Eusis

Member
This is going to become WAY too common. I can see it for previously dead franchises but I would not be surprised to see Call of Duty or Assassins Creed pull subverting like this in the future.
Most likely if anything like that happened it wouldn't be through Kickstarter and would be some warped preorder campaign, where the more that pre order the more stuff would be added to a game... Except I don't think that will really work with development cycle of those games. Maybe stuff would be arbitrarily locked away until certain social media goals were reached? That crap could catch on for those.

More realistically I think we could see this happening more often for lower mid tier titles. Which essentially has been happening with publishers abandoning those.
 
This honestly seems like a great way for a publisher to float a new IP. An initial kickstarter that is downsized to ensure it is possible to fit within the scope of the initial budget goal but can be expanded afterwards based on the public response.
 

GeeTeeCee

Member
Well, I backed it. £19 is a small price to pay for more Shenmue. You'd think Sony were holding a gun to potential backer's heads the way some people are complaining. We're getting more Shenmue, people. What a time to be alive.
 

Goliath

Member
Never got to play this game and am PRAYING for an HD Collection. I almost feel like they have to. One game is on a system that died in two years and most didn't have. The other game was only released in Japan on the DC and released on the Xbox which again most people didn't own, especially overseas.

This is one of the FEW times an HD Collection is totally justified. Don't disappoint and take my money.
 

MetalSlug

Member
Never got to play this game and am PRAYING for an HD Collection. I almost feel like they have to. One game is on a system that died in two years and most didn't have. The other game was only released in Japan on the DC and released on the Xbox which again most people didn't own, especially overseas.

This is one of the FEW times an HD Collection is totally justified. Don't disappoint and take my money.

It also had an EU release.
 

f@luS

More than a member.
Seeing bloodstained did 5milliond and knowing that often kickstarter go crazy the last day or hour , and seeing this it will probably do around 3muillions by the end of the FIRST DAY , could it go to 10 millions ?
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Then why can people pay more then the asking price of the game? If this was a feasibility study they wouldn't be taking multi-thousand dollar pre-orders.

So you don't think this is a feasibility study? Please enlighten us with your conspiracy theory.
 

chalex010

Banned
The kickstarter project FAQ says there won't be a physical PS4 copy, but hopefully they are smart enough to make that a stretch goal later, or make a new tier for it. I'd bet if they made a $500 PS4 physical collectors edition with emulated prequels it'd sell a silly amount of copies.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Shenmue III getting announced alone is heart warming enough. Watching it storm out of the gate is just something else. I can't believe how well it's doing so far. Unreal.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Amazing.

What are the chances of getting re-releases of the first 2? Stretch goals or something?

I would bet money on Shenmue I and II HD being released within the next 2 years.

In any case, the first stretch goal was just met, Shenmue III will ship with a film recap of Shenmue I and II just like Shenmue II did with Shenmue I.
 

FoeHammer

Member
If Sega was smart, they would fast track the HD collection and cash in on the wave of good vibes around Shenmue right now.

So they probably will continue to sit on it.
 
I'm curious about the comparison between this and Bloodstained. Are there just a lot more Shenmue fans? Was it just really great timing with the announcement in Sony's conference among other long-wanted games? Is it the higher initial goal creating a sense of urgency among hardcore fans that if they don't pay a high amount the game won't reach 2 mil and won't get made? I'm really interested to see where this ends up.

Just pulling reactions out of my ass, I wouldn't have ever thought Shenmue would have a bigger fan base than Castlevania. Shenmue only had two releases, both on very minor platforms. I wonder how many Shenmue backers have actually played the original games?
 
People would have to be idiots to pledge to an AC or CoD Kickstarter.

Yeah, and there are a lot of idiots out there. People pay to have some Chinese guy level their character in MMO's. What if you could kickstart CoD and the perk was get the game 2 weeks early and start at level 40. No one would bite on that?
 

Krejlooc

Banned
I'm curious about the comparison between this and Bloodstained. Are there just a lot more Shenmue fans? Was it just really great timing with the announcement in Sony's conference among other long-wanted games? Is it the higher initial goal creating a sense of urgency among hardcore fans that if they don't pay a high amount the game won't reach 2 mil and won't get made? I'm really interested to see where this ends up.

Just pulling reactions out of my ass, I wouldn't have ever thought Shenmue would have a bigger fan base than Castlevania. Shenmue only had two releases, both on very minor platforms. I wonder how many Shenmue backers have actually played the original games?

Shenmue has the hearts of every Sega fan who ever lived.
 
I'm normally against HD collections but this is one I could get behind. The systems it released on are dead and over a decade old. This series is a best case scenario for an HD collection
 

jcjimher

Member
I'm intrigued by the role of Sega in all of this.

Apparently they are not involved but they have allowed Yu to use the license (which is a nice and the fair thing to do by them, by the way).

Will we get arcades in Shenmue III with Hang-on or Space Harrier machines? Will there be Virtua Fighter posters? Or Sonic of Bonanza Bros figurines? Will they switch them to Sony ones? :p (that would be weird)

On a more serious note, will Yu Suzuki be allowed to use all the assets that were supposedly made for the sequels? (there is a good chunk of unused graphics and music in the originals). Seeing how the trailer is using the main themes I guess so...
 
What's so good about shenmue? Did it bring something new to the table back when it was released? The trailer on kickstarter is pretty lackluster but it is alpha.
 

jay

Member
I'm curious about the comparison between this and Bloodstained. Are there just a lot more Shenmue fans? Was it just really great timing with the announcement in Sony's conference among other long-wanted games? Is it the higher initial goal creating a sense of urgency among hardcore fans that if they don't pay a high amount the game won't reach 2 mil and won't get made? I'm really interested to see where this ends up.

Just pulling reactions out of my ass, I wouldn't have ever thought Shenmue would have a bigger fan base than Castlevania. Shenmue only had two releases, both on very minor platforms. I wonder how many Shenmue backers have actually played the original games?

I like Castlevania, but Iga got to make a lot of them. There were like half a dozen games like SotN made directly by Iga. There are not a lot of games like Shenmue and it also has one. linear plot. Those factor into what's going on, maybe.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
What's so good about shenmue? Did it bring something new to the table back when it was released? The trailer on kickstarter is pretty lackluster but it is alpha.

Understatement of a lifetime. Shenmue was so radically far ahead of anything else at the time. A true visionary.

Shenmue is one of the most ambitious, forward thinking, revolutionary titles ever made. It has had an enormous influence on everything that has come out since. Modern gaming owes its roots to Shenmue.
 

Hilbert

Deep into his 30th decade
I haven't donated(pledged? Invested? What is the term?) yet, but I think I am going to jump in at the 175 mark.

I love me some Shenmue.
 

jcjimher

Member
I would bet money on Shenmue I and II HD being released within the next 2 years.

I would bet too, and would be great for preservation and general sense. But at the same time I'm a bit scared about that prospect, knowing it would be Sega handling the port and marketing of it. If they do a low key release or botcher the port, it could result in bad sales and harm the positive momentum Yu/Sony have managed.

At least I hope Sega waits until the Kickstarter is over (easy) and until Yu closes the additional supporting deal we are all suspecting exists.
 

Vamphuntr

Member
Wow! This is quite the record. Wonder how much it will end at. Also curious about how much money they actually need for it.
 
Understatement of a lifetime. Shenmue was so radically far ahead of anything else at the time. A true visionary.

Shenmue is one of the most ambitious, forward thinking, revolutionary titles ever made. It has had an enormous influence on everything that has come out since. Modern gaming owes its roots to Shenmue.
Quite a statement there. Do you have any examples? I'm curious as I've watched some gameplay and all I saw were cutscenes and quick time events.
 
Understatement of a lifetime. Shenmue was so radically far ahead of anything else at the time. A true visionary.

Shenmue is one of the most ambitious, forward thinking, revolutionary titles ever made. It has had an enormous influence on everything that has come out since. Modern gaming owes its roots to Shenmue.
It is? I don't remember much talk about that at the time. I'm sure it's a great game and all...
 
No, project Berkeley in its entirely, 4 games across two systems, cost $47 million

and that cover the cost of creating two engines + 2 entire tool set

Thank you. I see a lot of misinformation over Shenmue. The budget was caused by Sega, not Yus fault. Having to switch between 2 completely different engines and redesigning the game multiple times. The game also sold 1.2 million on one of the worst selling consoles major consoles.
 
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