CyberPanda
Banned
Shenmue III sales flopped
It looks like Shenmue III, the highly anticipated (by fans) continuation of the 2001 title, is not doing very well.
www.dsogaming.com
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Shenmue III sales flopped
- Thread starter CyberPanda
- Start date
- Sales-Age
www.dsogaming.com
CyberPanda
Banned
Husky
THE Prey 2 fanatic
The game looks like one of those fan-made Unreal remasters, ya know, with assets that don't quite match the lighting style, but with somehow even less production value than those free downloads. I dunno how well it feels to play, but damn does it just look bad.
I got Shenmue 1 & 2 now from Humble, so I guess if I like those, I'll look into Shenmue 3 after it hits Steam. But it definitely doesn't look exciting.
I got Shenmue 1 & 2 now from Humble, so I guess if I like those, I'll look into Shenmue 3 after it hits Steam. But it definitely doesn't look exciting.
JimboJones
Member
At least they can feel happy they are only paying 12% to Epic.
Red Crayon Aristocrat
Member
Shame as it was such an unlikely prospect to being with and from what I understand it's not the conclusion so the story will probably remain unfinished.
The enthusiasm was definitely there until the stuff with epic and then Yu Suzuki pretty much saying the story won't be advancing. I may have posted this before not sure but any fans left shouldn't give up hope on a shenmue 4 as I epic is rich enough that I can see them funding one for an epic store exclusive.
Stefan.North
Member
Well, the project did get funding from kickstarter and Epic gave them moneyhats. I don't think anyone is getting bankrupt over this.
GreyHorace
Member
Can't say I'm surprised. It was always going to be a niche title at best. I had hoped Suzuki would be able to deliver a game that could capture a mass audience (as I've read though it's a good game with some hardcore mechanics), but alas, it wasn't meant to be.
GenericUser
Member
Shenmue was always shit. The first and second game are being remembered so fondly, because they had soul and were among the first games to offer an open world experience. The core gameplay, on the other hand, was always shit.
lukilladog
Member
I think Epic paid for far more copies than shenmue 3 sold all over the world 
Whitesnake
Banned
It was destined to fail.
It was a series built on a dying console, so even in its hayday it wasn’t that popular. And it’s been 18 years since Shenmue 2. Nobody knows what Shenmue is. The dreamcast-supremacist boomers that still enjoy it are a small group. Just as Shenmue 1 and 2 couldn’t sell enough to save the Dreamcast, Shenmue 3 couldn’t sell enough to save Shenmue.
In that intervening 18 years, it has been completely replaced by a better series that has improved and perfected everything Shenmue attempted to do, Yakuza. There is no reason to play Shenmue in a post-Yakuza world. Yakuza has better combat, better side quests, a better story, more things to do, less boring bs, more sega arcade games, etc.
Maybe next time plan on making a couple good games instead of planning to make 13 shit ones.
It was a series built on a dying console, so even in its hayday it wasn’t that popular. And it’s been 18 years since Shenmue 2. Nobody knows what Shenmue is. The dreamcast-supremacist boomers that still enjoy it are a small group. Just as Shenmue 1 and 2 couldn’t sell enough to save the Dreamcast, Shenmue 3 couldn’t sell enough to save Shenmue.
In that intervening 18 years, it has been completely replaced by a better series that has improved and perfected everything Shenmue attempted to do, Yakuza. There is no reason to play Shenmue in a post-Yakuza world. Yakuza has better combat, better side quests, a better story, more things to do, less boring bs, more sega arcade games, etc.
Maybe next time plan on making a couple good games instead of planning to make 13 shit ones.
GenericUser
Member
They are much better then shenmue ever was.I just bought yakuza zero and 6
Am i weird for thinking those games are just shemnue?
Spukc
always chasing the next thrill
EverythingsOverrated
Member
Honestly, I knew this game wouldn't sell great, but Yu and co did not do themselves any favor at all by releasing this game during the holiday season. Whoever thought that was a good idea was obviously fooling themselves.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
EGS exclusivity is what made me decide to not bother with it, but perhaps they made the right decision financially... Hopefully they got a decent amount of cash from Epic.
RiccochetJ
Gold Member
Spukc
always chasing the next thrill
So painful this shit
Punished Miku
Gold Member
Suzuki looks like he had had the same clothes for 30 years. I dont know how rich he is.
Alexios
Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
And yet it's consistently been in the top 3 sellers on EGS so imagine how everything else is doing, lol. Some people took Epic's money with no regard for anything else in return for nobody actually playing the games to build a fanbase and demand for whatever they do next and it seems it wasn't even much money given how eager some of them are to get on Steam and try to drum up attention and make events out of it months prior. Hopefully the better stuff and the stuff that got there against the will of devs due to their publishers will do well as some do deserve to be played. Shenmue & II boxed DC copies (pal) are among the few stuff I've kept physical but I don't even care about Shenmue III any more, with this development they're not likely to ever finish the saga after all and only have themselves to blame. I liked what I saw of the game as unlike others I never expected a new Shenmue to be pioneering like the previous games were or some grand AAA open world shit, just be what they were in practice, small scale intimate adventure games with an interesting story of revenge and how that would twist and develop. But as a fan I'm not a commodity to be sold to EGS and have no more sympathy for Yu than he has for me. I wish none of this came to pass but it seems most likely given the apparent flop.
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Kazza
Member
I just bought yakuza zero and 6
Am i weird for thinking those games are just shemnue?
Inaccurate rather than weird. Saying that Shenmue is just like an older Yakuza is like saying that Yakuza is just the Japanese GTA (an opinion that was widespread among people who had never actually played the games, something that has thankfully been set straight since the popularity of Yakuza 0 has meant that many more people actually got to experience the it for themselves). Just as Yakuza and GTA superficially appear to be similar games (open world gameplay, plot involving organised crime), so do Shenmue and Yakuza.
I take the opposite view - the people who shit on Shenmue the most are those who have never played it and who have never had any intention of ever playing it (as evidenced by the frequent, and inaccurate, comparisons to Yakuza). Shenmue 3 has the added bonus of attracting two small, but vocal, groups of haters - kickstarter haters and Epic Games haters (seriously, modern console fanboys are sad enough given how little difference there is between them these days, but PC Storefront fanboys represent a whole new low).
As for Shenmue 3 itself, the sales aren't looking great, but we don't know what expectations the publishers had so won't know how this bodes for Shenmue 4. Shenmue 1&2 HD were only $30 for 2 games, whereas Shenmue 3 is $60 for one game, so perhaps it shouldn't be too surprising that the former sold more. Also, the most hardcore 70k fans had already received the game via Kickstarter, so they should be added to total sold to get a more accurate picture of the game's popularity. Of course, that Castlevania kickstarter still managed to sell well to the wider public, so it looks that the appeal of a game like Shenmue is smaller than a traditional metroidvania. Let's see how the story DLC sells.
Whatever happens, I'm glad that we got the third instalment and would happily back a fourth.
Freeman76
Member
I just cant believe after 18 years he still didnt decide to wrap it up a bit more. In some arenas i would respect that decision greatly, but here it feels a bit like trolling, no way will this story ever be completed which kind of makes the whole thing pointless. He should have condensed it down and released it episodically DLC wise, like a Walking Dead or LiS type apporach.
Stuart360
Member
Did you miss the part where i said i played it for 6 hours, but thiink its arguable the worst game this gen?.
Cut out the fanboy generalizing and stop pretending that people are hating on the game for reasons other than the fact that the game blows
Dthomp
Member
I never believed for a second this game would sell. Gamers are not the same in what they seek as they were back then, and this game did nothing to make itself seem like anybody outside of a diehard Shenmue fan should buy it. This is example number 1 for me that not all games need to be brought back, I can easily see Beyond Good and Evil 2 following this same trajectory TBH. Some of the best loved franchises just aren't made for the mass market current gamers who just want indy/mobile/AAA/COD stuff. If you can't make these games on a smaller budget and create some good word of mouth you will fail.
Kazza
Member
Calm down. There's no need to get upset that other people enjoy a game that you didn't like.
"the people who shit on Shenmue the most..." and "everyone who shits on Shenmue..." are not the same meaning, no need to take offence. I stand by what I wrote.
TheDuskwalker
Member
No surprise, I saw even Shenmue 1 and 2 above it for a few days on amazon.
I thought of buying it....then I saw Judgement was on sale for 20$ for Black Friday and said fuck that.
I thought of buying it....then I saw Judgement was on sale for 20$ for Black Friday and said fuck that.
Kazza
Member
Judgment at $20 is definitely a better deal. I expect Shenmue 3 to be around $30 by the time it launches on Steam next year
Vampire On Titus
Member
Idk what the publishers expectations for the game's sales were but I hope we can get Shenmue 4 somehow because I'm absolutely loving my time with Shenmue 3.
xrnzaaas
Member
Not surprising really.
- They didn't release proper remakes for Shenmue 1 & 2.
- There was barely any marketing and since this is a continuation of the story no reason to play if you don't know 1 and 2.
- Shenmue 3 also feels like it's still stuck in the past (based on the gameplay videos I've watched).
- This was mostly a kickstarter project for the fans of the previous games...
- ...who then ended up getting screwed when the studio signed a deal with Epic
- They didn't release proper remakes for Shenmue 1 & 2.
- There was barely any marketing and since this is a continuation of the story no reason to play if you don't know 1 and 2.
- Shenmue 3 also feels like it's still stuck in the past (based on the gameplay videos I've watched).
- This was mostly a kickstarter project for the fans of the previous games...
- ...who then ended up getting screwed when the studio signed a deal with Epic
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New Yorks Finest
Banned
There was no passion and love in poured this project..just a quick pieced together gm by students fresh off the arts school
