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[Shizuka]

Even if it'd cost him part of the money, it'd be nicer if he could get a team like 8-4 to handle the Kickstarter project altogether.

 

[Soltype]

That guy on right reminds me of otakus I used to see in college, just awkward.

 

[wmlk]

It's too late for that, the entire campaign has been poisoned, there's no changing anybodies mind about the game now. :_:

lol

We've only known about the game for a week and a half. Calm down.

 

[Spaghetti]

If Cedric is the guy on the right, then I'm sorry, but your money has all been smoken for.

it takes you two seconds to check the kickstarter to see red shirt is not cedric biscay

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

It's interesting to consider: There's "only" 45,990 backers at the time of this post...That's "only" 45,990 units sold...That's sort of wack when you think about it?

I mean, like, here's a list of the million sellers PS1 games:



(Source)

According to Wikipedia, Shenmue moved 1.2 million units on Dreamcast.

Here's some comparable DC game sales figures. Not sure on accuracy (an old Gaming-Age archive):

http://www.goodcowfilms.com/farm/basement/ga-archive/sega-dc-sales-03-04-2003.htm

I'll just pull some randoms with similar sales:

2044	DC	FERRARI F355 CHALLENGE	Sep-00	ACCLAIM ENTERTAINMENT	3	39,593
1913	DC	STREET FIGHTR 3:DOUBLE	Jun-00	CAPCOM USA	7	54,498
899	DC	PLASMA SWORD	Apr-00	CAPCOM USA	687	50,464

Can we compare how many backers other Kickstarters had 10 days in?

 

[Bashtee]

Don't they have a hand in back goods fulfillment?

Probably, but they have 2 years to get their shit together. I just hope this will be enough. This stream will enter history. Worthy of being shown as a result of Shenmue 3.

Can we compare how many backers other Kickstarters had 10 days in?

yes, here we see the charts for bloodstained.

Bloodstained had a total of 65k, so Shenmue is doing good so far.

 

[Elfforkusu]

oh god

no one is getting their goods

I trust them to do anything but communicate with the fans. I mean, they're still in business, so it stands to reason that they're competent at something. And it isn't communication...

Hopefully yu can find a way to get somebody else as the "front man" for posting updates, running live streams, etc

And asap...

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Just had a look at a screenshot of the KS from earlier. 150 more backers and they made over 30k.

Despite the stream being a low quality disaster, it has pumped new money into the Kickstarter. They should hit $3.7 million by the end of the night.

 

[Buzzati]

That's kinda harsh, I mean as soon as the KS is over Crappy Japan is out of the picture and Ys Net will get the job done no matter what, that we can be sure of.

That is, until our boy takes out electric clippers, shaves his sideburns, and pulls out a bright red cap that reads, "Ys Net: Lead Programmer" place it on his head and winks. God it would be so beautiful for it all to fall in flames like this.

 

[vinnygambini]

That's kinda harsh, I mean as soon as the KS is over Crappy Japan is out of the picture and Ys Net will get the job done no matter what, that we can be sure of.

I don't think it's harsh whatsoever as you are asking the consumer to fund your beloved project, and yet have hardly nothing to show for: kickstarter campaign has been nothing but a PR disaster (funded by Sony, then not funded, then $10 million for full awesome mode, to $5 million okay mode). I mean what is going on here.

It's been poorly handled since day 1, their Kickstarter page has not been updated accordingly, and the stream was just... I'm speechless.

How do you instill confidence or ask people to pledge more if you can't get your act together yourself?

I'm just so disappointed ;.;

 

[RustySpoon]

A friend of mine did a smallish kickstarter that only raised a couple thousand dollars (for beer glasses, I can't remember) and the logistics of even a very small kickstarter were a nightmare. Hope these guys know what they're getting into...

 

[DAREALGUMMY]

I don't see why people are so negative about this. They're not doing ANYTHING involved with the actual development of the game. They explained what they could, added more rewards and said more was to come. Why are people acting like this is the end?

 

[Wario64]

OMG at this http://www.twitch.tv/shenmue3official/v/6636679

lol

 

[Spaghetti]

sorry about the allcaps but:

AWESOME JAPAN ARE ONLY RUNNING THE KICKSTARTER AND ARE NOT INVOLVED IN DEVELOPMENT, YOUR MONEY IS SAFE WITH YU AND YS.NET

chill out. we got some funny gifs, some new and interesting information, and nearly another 30k pledged.

 

[Boke1879]

I don't think it's harsh whatsoever as you are asking the consumer to fund your beloved project, and yet have hardly nothing to show for: kickstarter campaign has been nothing but a PR disaster (funded by Sony, then not funded, then $10 million for full awesome mode, to $5 million okay mode). I mean what is going on here.

It's been poorly handled since day 1, their Kickstarter page has not been updated accordingly, and the stream was just... I'm speechless.

How do you instill confidence or ask people to pledge more if you can't get your act together yourself?

I'm just so disappointed ;.;

The simple fact that Yu is making the game. They asked all the important questions and we got the answers. The game is still being funded. Could the KS be handled better? Yes of course. But overall I'm not seeing a huge issue here.

 

[Shy]

We've only known about the game for a week and a half. Calm down.

Yes, and look at all the public confusion, negative press articles and videos already, because of them.

 

[Nightengale]

Is it too late to hire those guys that ran the Bloodstained KS? What were they called again...FanGamer?

Hiring them is one thing.

Getting them to "right the ship" is a completely different ballgame.

On my educated guess, for them to "right the ship" in a tangible way, it'd require basically a combination of:

- some amount of restructuring for the reward/tiers (easy)
- explanation of the above in a way that gets backers excited. PR basically. (easy, but still a few days of work)
- continuous fan-facing activities like Twitch streams, interview with Suzuki, etc. Media activities that need to be planned and set-up a week or two in advance. (medium, need to arrange schedule and stuff )
- lengthy/significant interview with prominent folks in games media, similar to the Bloodstained interviews with Kinda Funny, etc, where the game/KS is given broad exposure to fans who may not be necessarily Shenmue fans, but fans of the games media personalities. (hard, many schedule conflicts, can take up to a month or more to set-up )

The amount of work needed to set-up the right stuff to make things right is very significant. It's not a one day job, it's not even a one week job.

 

[Crocodile]

It's interesting to consider: There's "only" 45,990 backers at the time of this post...That's "only" 45,990 units sold...That's sort of wack when you think about it?

I mean, like, here's a list of the million sellers PS1 games:



(Source)

According to Wikipedia, Shenmue moved 1.2 million units on Dreamcast.

Here's some comparable DC game sales figures. Not sure on accuracy (an old Gaming-Age archive):

http://www.goodcowfilms.com/farm/basement/ga-archive/sega-dc-sales-03-04-2003.htm

I'll just pull some randoms with similar sales:

2044	DC	FERRARI F355 CHALLENGE	Sep-00	ACCLAIM ENTERTAINMENT	3	39,593
1913	DC	STREET FIGHTR 3:DOUBLE	Jun-00	CAPCOM USA	7	54,498
899	DC	PLASMA SWORD	Apr-00	CAPCOM USA	687	50,464

I wouldn't compare backers directly to sales. People backing this project, even at low tiers, are niche, heavily invested, hardcore, etc. as these are non-refundable donations for a game that doesn't exist yet. The bulk of actual sales will come from those way less invested.

 

[NoFaceNico]

By the way: it's like noon and Saturday in Japan right now. I think the guy on the right was insanely hung over and maybe still drunk from the night before.

I'm dead serious. Very unprofessional and it's that kind of shit that gives westerners a bad rep over there.

 

[Dugna]

If the game is going to be good and come out anyway, why does it matter how this random Q&A stream they probably didn't even plan on doing so early from announcement is good or not?

 

[benzy]

So... PS4 physical copy is definitely happening from the sounds of it?

 

[master15]

sorry about the allcaps but:

AWESOME JAPAN ARE ONLY RUNNING THE KICKSTARTER AND ARE NOT INVOLVED IN DEVELOPMENT, YOUR MONEY IS SAFE WITH YU AND YS.NET

chill out. we got some funny gifs, some new and interesting information, and nearly another 30k pledged.

Needs to be repeated for all these drama queens out there.

I was pissed initially then I realized it has no impact on the actual development of Shenmue. Yu know's what he's doing. He's got this.

 

[wmlk]

Yes, and look at all the public confusion, negative press articles and videos already, because of them.

I'm not denying that, but saying how there's no changing anyone's mind about this game is hilarious and ridiculously premature.

 

[ElTorro]

sorry about the allcaps but:

AWESOME JAPAN ARE ONLY RUNNING THE KICKSTARTER AND ARE NOT INVOLVED IN DEVELOPMENT, YOUR MONEY IS SAFE WITH YU AND YS.NET

chill out. we got some funny gifs, some new and interesting information, and nearly another 30k pledged.

Running the kickstarter campaign is quite an important thing. I fail to see how this is not a reason to be concerned. These guys are incompetent beyond belief.

 

[ArisenDragon]

Seems the amount is going up faster now.

 

[openrob]

IM SORRY

BUT THIS WAS ACTUALLY THE MOST ENTERTAINING THING IN GAMING THIS YEAR, IF NOT EVER.

Seriously guys, pledge, not only are we getting Shenmue 3 (!) We also got a rival to Konami e3 - I bet you never thought you would see something like that on your life again.
You should all be thankful.

 

[BoxManLocke]

I don't think it's harsh whatsoever as you are asking the consumer to fund your beloved project, and yet have hardly nothing to show for: kickstarter campaign has been nothing but a PR disaster (funded by Sony, then not funded, then $10 million for full awesome mode, to $5 million okay mode). I mean what is going on here.

It's been poorly handled since day 1, their Kickstarter page has not been updated accordingly, and the stream was just... I'm speechless.

How do you instill confidence or ask people to pledge more if you can't get your act together yourself?

I'm just so disappointed ;.;

I get it, really. Suzuki clearly chose the wrong team and the KS is by far the worst I ever backed (among the successful ones), but you know, it's still Shenmue 3. The game will be made by the right people.

Edit: Also, Yu has 2 years to fire their asses and hire a competent company to handle the KS rewards.

The fan community really is doing all the work and then some, Awesome Japan should be fucking thankful.

 

[ponpo]

If they've stated they need 10 million dollars or whatever to make TruShenmue™ then how does running the kickstarter have no impact on the game development?

 

[Dead End Irony]

So... PS4 physical copy is definitely happening from the sounds of it?

In my opinion, it was decided on as soon as the Kickstarter was funded.

I think now, they're just trying to negotiate with Sony on making it a reward.

 

[Shizuka]

Running the kickstarter campaign is quite an important thing. I fail to see how this is not a reason to be concerned. These guys are incompetent beyond belief.

And this.

 

[Crocodile]

Needs to be repeated for all these drama queens out there.

I was pissed initially then I realized it has no impact on the actual development of Shenmue. Yu know's what he's doing. He's got this.

Aside from the fact that their participation may be the difference between the Kickstater getting 6-7 million and it getting 11+ million. So no the game isn't "ruined" or any nonsense but it still matters.

 

[Erevador]

Is it too late to hire those guys that ran the Bloodstained KS? What were they called again...FanGamer?

It is definitely NOT too late! We still have 20 days left, that majority of the campaign. FanGamer is already involved with the jacket tier.

I went to their website and used the chat function to let them know I would very much like to see them more involved with this campaign, since it would benefit from their professionalism and experience.

I encourage others to do the same. Perhaps they will reach out to Suzuki, who did not look pleased with his team during this stream...

 

[Bucket-o-roadkill]

By the way: it's like noon and Saturday in Japan right now. I think the guy on the right was insanely hung over and maybe still drunk from the night before.

I'm dead serious. Very unprofessional and it's that kind of shit that gives westerners a bad rep over there.

I think it's done the campaign more harm than good. Just an absolute farce from start to finish.

Nerves I can understand, but for fuck sake, at least sit still and try to be respectful and professional. Acting like a kid in class who's had too much sugar and can't contain himself?! What the fuck, come on. Absolutely dreadful.

 

[celsowmbr]

Seems the amount is going up faster now.

This is the point !

 

[Nightengale]

Running the kickstarter campaign is quite an important thing. I fail to see how this is not a reason to be concerned. These guys are incompetent beyond belief.

It's especially important because the game (Shenmue 3) doesn't exist. There's no vertical slice or gameplay trailer that could elevate concerns, it's mostly communication of vision, etc.

And who's communicating it because the main developer can't natively speak English?

The marketing agency. =/

 

[Shy]

sorry about the allcaps but:

AWESOME JAPAN ARE ONLY RUNNING THE KICKSTARTER AND ARE NOT INVOLVED IN DEVELOPMENT, YOUR MONEY IS SAFE WITH YU AND YS.NET.

I appreciate that, but they've done irreparable damage to the crowd funding campaign. which of course hurts it's chances of raising necessary the budget needed.

 

[master15]

Those that didn't see steam here is a rough translation taken from the Dojo

"We have lots of very important things to get to so let's start right away!"

*They all pause to drink some Fanta*

Q: "One more time, explain Sony's role in Shenmue 3."

A: "Sony's providing us comprehensive support in terms of publishing and marketing, as well as funding of the project partially."

*Stream goes down due to technical issues*

Q: Once again they ask about Sony's role

A:"Sony is providing us comprehensive support in marketing, promotion, and funding. They are one of the most important partners of this project. But as we said before in our statement ... they are not receiving one cent from the Kickstarter... the funds collected in the KIckstarter project will be all used for development except for the fees used for the Kickstarter and for providing the Kickstarter rewards. Not a single cent will go to Sony from the Kickstarter funds."

Q: PS4 physical reward ?

A: "It's one of the most requested rewards and I personally want to prepare for it as a reward. We are now considering how we can provide the reward in such a way that satisfies the backers. Please be patient."

Q: Before you were talking about how the funds will be spent. Can you explain more?

A: "We have a pie chart for how the funds from Kickstarter will be spent. KS
Fees: 8 - 10 % Game development: 65 to 72% Backer rewards: 20 - 25% Most of the kickstarter funds are going to the game development. Everything excluding necessary fees and the reward fulfilment.. everything's gonna be used for development."

Q: "Will the real Ryo please stand up?"

A: "We're still improving the qualities of Ryo's face. Not satisfied with the face Ryo has right now. Today we have the latest version, a new pic or Ryo's face. (They show a pic) This new pic we're not satisfied with. Ryo still looks kind of 'frowny.' So I want to continue the improvement. I want to enhance Ryo's attactiveness and personality through not only the models but through the facial expressions and actions he does to make Ryo even better. So we are going to see an improved Ryo in the future. He'll be much better through the process of development."

Q: "Another big issue. Voice actors coming back to reprise their roles. Specifically Ryo. Will we be seeing them again?"

A: "So, I think that the original voice actors will be the best match for Ryo's voice. So I want them to come back as his real voice in shenmue 3 as well. I'm now in negotiation with them. Please wait. We'll have more details about that."

Q: "Will PayPal be an option to help fund Shenmue 3?"

A: "No definite answer, but we're looking into it."

Q: "Is Shenmue 3 going to be DRM free on PC?"

A: "We are now looking into it, but it's not something I alone can decide on. I'm talking to other parties to decide if that's possible... we're looking into it."

Q: "Shenmue 1/Shenmue II HD remaster: are we gonna see it?"

A: "I personally want to see them so that the fans can enjoy Shenmue 3 more. However the property rights belong to SEGA, so I'm not in a position to comment on it. But I want it, so I will talk to SEGA if that's possible."

Q: "More rewards?"

A: "Today we will have additional rewards. First of all we have the grab bags. A lot of surprises in different prize tears, starting from 1,000 dollars to 500 dollars. It contains Shenmue merchandise, and it is random, so you have fun in opening the bag. And also we'll have one more reward, that is the replica of Ryo's watch. There is only one. This will be in the 5,000 reward tier. *They show the watch*

Q: "What are the other rewards going to be like?"

A: "The grab bags will include for example special figures of Ryo. There are also Shenmue watches. (Not the one just shown.) They also include autographed art work. Check out the page later. The rewards will be up. Check it out! For today we have grab bags and watches but in the future we'll have more additional rewards so please stay tuned to the kickstarter page!"

Q: "Stretch goals... stretch goals... stretch goals. Can we get a little bit of explanation please, about the stretch goals."

A: "The budget we have right now, it's Shenmue with story elements. It will be Shenmue 3 up until the duel against the four big bosses. But with additional stretch goals, more areas are going to be added and expanded.

The Rapport system is the system that governs the changes in characters' attitudes toward you, depending upon actions you take in conversations. It will provide a new twist to Shenmue.

In Shenmue 3 there'll be a lot of occasions when you can obtain technique scrolls through special events, jobs, missions, etc. They can be used in battle right away as a QTE. However the advanced skill scrolls and arcane skill scrolls are managed in a tree diagram. Completing that tree will be another side of fun, and it links to the actual martial art learning.

Q: "More on stretch goals"

A: "With the area Baisha, we want to include new fun not included in Shenmue 2. Traditional tactics such as seige and infiltration that we see in warring kingdoms in traditional China are also added. But I want to make it Shenmue-like, easy to grasp, easy to play, and provide more fun.

There's an opportunity for the players to play as different characters. In that event you'll see different choices that different personalities offer, different from Ryo and other characters. That will provide more fun and more personality to the characters.

So there's a lot more stretch goals we published, but there will be a large amount of explanations and a large amount of fun still to come, so we'll leave it to other occasions to explain the other stretch goals.

Your cooperation is what makes this Kickstarter progress, so please support us!

Q: "How will Shenmue 3 at its current funding level be different from Shenmue 3 at the 10 million dollar level?"

A: "The current funding level - about 3.6 million - will have story oriented Shenmue. More focus on story. Exceeding 5 million will allow the development to include more things that are new, such as we explained about Baisha. Exceeding 10 million will allow for the players to enjoy a more open world like Shenmue."

Q: "When is Shenmue 3 going to be released?"

A: "It's expected to be released by the end of 2017. We're confident."

Q: "Is this the end of the story?"

A: "The initial storyline contained 11 chapters. With 1 & 2 it advanced to only a little bit of the 11 chapters. I considered doing the final game to include all the remaining chapters, but in the final consideration it would be skipping all the big arcs, and the completeness of the game would be less enjoyable. So this Shenmue 3 will have more storylines, but this structure will not finish the storyline with Shenmue 3."

Q: "When can we play the trial version?"

A: "It requires many of the basic systems to be developed. The release date of the demo version will be the latter half of the development stage. It might be after the new year of 2017. Until then it requires more development for the basics."

(Inaudible)

Please keep sending us your questions. We want to make Shenmue 3 the best we can. Please share the project. Get the word out. Let everybody know that Shenmue 3 is happening, and we need everybody to support and make sure that we make this Shenmue 3 spectacular."

Q: "Final thoughts?"

A: "I always want to do new things. I hope to achieve all the things I want to do in the new Shenmue, matching with what the Shenmue the fans want, to meet the ten million dollar goal. We ask your continued support, and that you spread the word around to make Shenmue a real thing! Thank-you very much!"

"Let's make this happen! Everybody has been so great the past fourteen years. Making it happen. It's happening now. #SaveShenmue! Let's do this! Thank-you!"

 

[VibratingDonkey]

Suzuki was on point. That guy's solid. Questions were good. I didn't catch everything as I was busy fretting and whatnot. But there was some good info in there. I'll look forward to the eventual summary writeup (^^oh, here is one right now). Fuck, I feel kind of exhausted after this.

edit
Soooooooo much better in text form.

I feel like this stream is the best possible proof that they don't have a bunch of big corporate backers supporting them.

Ha. True enough.

Current version of Ryo's face

They're getting there.

 

[Erevador]

Hiring them is one thing.

Getting them to "right the ship" is a completely different ballgame.

On my educated guess, for them to "right the ship" in a tangible way, it'd require basically a combination of:

- some amount of restructuring for the reward/tiers (easy)
- explanation of the above in a way that gets backers excited. PR basically. (easy, but still a few days of work)
- continuous fan-facing activities like Twitch streams, interview with Suzuki, etc. Media activities that need to be planned and set-up a week or two in advance. (medium, need to arrange schedule and stuff )
- lengthy/significant interview with prominent folks in games media, similar to the Bloodstained interviews with Kinda Funny, etc, where the game/KS is given broad exposure to fans who may not be necessarily Shenmue fans, but fans of the games media personalities. (hard, many schedule conflicts, can take up to a month or more to set-up )

The amount of work needed to set-up the right stuff to make things right is very significant. It's not a one day job, it's not even a one week job.

One day's worth of FanGamer professionalism would do wonders for this campaign. Awesome Japan has simply done nothing whatsoever.

 

[Spaghetti]

Needs to be repeated for all these drama queens out there.

I was pissed initially then I realized it has no impact on the actual development of Shenmue. Yu know's what he's doing. He's got this.

exactly

Running the kickstarter campaign is quite an important thing. I fail to see how this is not a reason to be concerned. These guys are incompetent beyond belief.

see above. in 20 days these guys are gone. yu suzuki was in control the whole stream. the spotty translation might not have been too clear, but there was no hesitation in what he was saying. he knows what he wants to do, and he knows how to do it.

 

[chromatic9]

just reached 46000

It's working guise, the Fanta is working

 

[Shy]

I'm not denying that, but saying how there's no changing anyone's mind about this game is hilarious and ridiculously premature.

Guess i'm a pessimist. wish i didn't feel this way though.

 

[Loudninja]

Wow so it sounds like the PS4 disc version is very possible now?

 

[JonathanNemo]

• The guys running this Kickstarter don't know what they're doing
  
• Let's give them more money

I like to think it's for Suzuki's sake, but I wonder if red shirt guy (Diet Pewds?) is a net positive for this circus.

 

[master15]

Aside from the fact that their participation may be the difference between the Kickstater getting 6-7 million and it getting 11+ million. So no the game isn't "ruined" or any nonsense but it still matters.

It's not going to be affected by this Switch stream. If anything the ridiculousness is going to get non-shenmue fans to view it if anything.

What will make a difference are rewards, pledges and exposure. I think the Twitch stream may attract the latter.

 

[Nightengale]

One day's worth of FanGamer professionalism would do wonders for this campaign. Awesome Japan has simply done nothing whatsoever.

My scenario is what I'd call, super idealistic already.

Who the hell knows if there's going to be any problems with firing AJ, whether or not FG even has the capacity/time to pick-up immediately, and a million other potential logistics and human resource problem.

I've been in situations where as part of the "corporate marketing" team, we were dealt VERY BAD hands in the marketing agency we picked/were forced to work with. (eg. amazing pitch, terrible execution, or force of hand by our global team ) And sometimes, changing is not an option no matter how much we'd like to change.

The difference is that we were an internal marketing team with the competencies to basically take over the project execution on our own terms. Ys Net... most likely don't have that.

 

[Tricky I Shadow]

Red shirt guy acting like a weirdo was honestly a positive. It's going to draw in more attention from a new audience since all the Shenmue fans are already locked in. Start spreading the gifs of him around people!

 

[Spaghetti]

I appreciate that, but they've done irreparable damage to the crowd funding campaign. which of course hurts it's chances of raising necessary the budget needed.

in the short term it's at least put us close to 3.7 million after about two days or build up. i think being pessimistic and equating the poor running of the kickstarter with any kind of development environment isn't helping either.

awesome japan are gone in 20 days. let's just get yu his money so he can get on with making the game.

 

[Bashtee]

Alright, pie chart is online! Can someone give Polygon a call? They might like it.

Let's just hope the stream doesn't scare off too many backers.

 

[Erevador]

My scenario is what I'd call, super idealistic already.

Who the hell knows if there's going to be any problems with firing AJ, whether or not FG even has the capacity/time to pick-up immediately, and a million other potential logistics and human resource problem.

Indeed, but it is hard to imagine that anyone involved can feel things like this chat were a success.

I could see Fangamer wanting to be involved because it would be a feather in their cap to be involved in the two campaigns that will almost certainly be the most successful gaming Kickstarters for a long time. And again, they are already somewhat associated with the project.