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Polygon: "Shenmue's 3 budget is a mystery, and why that's a problem."

It's obvious the funding is coming from Kickstarter, Sony and other parties or sources. Not that complicated nor do they have an obligation to release budget numbers.
 
Wait, what? If a Kickstarter doesn't deliver on what they claimed they would, yes it's a problem, and people would have the right to complain. But that would be a reaction when that situation comes up. If there's an editorial heavily implying that will likely happen, with no better evidence than the company didn't give them a detailed breakdown of the behind-the-scenes funding, then that's way out of line. This isn't some either-or thing, and a write-up like this is silly so early in development.

That's the risk you are taking when you use kickstarter though. They don't have to guarantee you shit. So no if a kickstarter doesn't bring you the final product that's not something you get to complain about because you funded the project with that in mind.
 
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I think it's still a mystery because their outside funding is contingent on how much Kickstarter raises. And their outside funding sources don't just want them to come out and say "Hey, Sony is giving us x percent of what we raise on Kickstarter".
 
This was my reaction when I clicked the article:

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Either way, there is nothing wrong with this. If you're someone who feels this way about the Kickstarter, then don't even put money towards it. There were over 40,000 people who wanted to see the game happen and then voted with their wallet.
 
Well he says Shenmue 3 should have 3 villages, right?

But the Stretch Goals are only for 1 right now...so does that mean we will get an incomplete game if we don't get enough?
 
If the project runs out of money, none of you guys get to complain, okay?

Laughing at a stupid clickbait article written by an idiot means we can't complain if the game is canned because they run out of money?

Again, why would the developers comment on the budget or give definitive feedback on the scope of the game when the Kickstarter still has a month to run and the amount of money they get from Sony is most probably highly dependent on the amount raised through crowdfunding?! This article might have some credence if it wasn't written about 12 months too soon.
 
Florida Man Who Pledged $29 For PS4 Videogame Outraged After Discovering Sony Funded An Unknown Percentage Of The Game's Final Budget, Demands Answers

If you remove the irony, this is exactly the issue at hand. If you want to back the project, it's presumably because you expect a game whose quality is at least on par with the previous entries in the series. The original Shenmue cost $70M to make in 1999 dollars. Is Sony committing to putting up that inflation-adjusted amount? Who knows? Are you going to get a by-the-numbers open world game made on the cheap in 2-3 years because someone's just trying to cash in on the brand? Is it fair to want some reassurance before you throw away your recoupable cash? What if you backed at 300 rather than 30?

That's the risk you are taking when you use kickstarter though. They don't have to guarantee you shit. So no if a kickstarter doesn't bring you the final product that's not something you get to complain about because you funded the project with that in mind.

Oh my god, you want to blame the consumer for taking a risk, but deny him being able to do due diligence before taking that risk?
 
The problem is people trying so hard to make this a problem. Its very obvious lol.

This game isn't going to be a state of the art production like the last two games, its not gonna be on 1 dying platform this time. Sony won't have to quick out tens of millions and fans don't need to be worrying.

Hopefully Sony/Sega or whoever does HD remasters to build hype for the release.
 
If you remove the irony, this is exactly the issue at hand. If you want to back the project, it's presumably because you expect a game whose quality is at least on par with the previous entries in the series. The original Shenmue cost $70M to make in 1999 dollars. Is Sony committing to putting up that inflation-adjusted amount? Who knows? Are you going to get a by-the-numbers open world game made on the cheap in 2-3 years because someone's just trying to cash in on the brand? Is it fair to want some reassurance before you throw away your recoupable cash? What if you backed at 300 rather than 30?



Oh my god, you want to blame the consumer for taking a risk, but deny him being able to do due diligence before taking that risk?
I don't think anyone expects a 2015 version of Shenmue, with all the depth and fidelity that is now possible. I think people just want to finish the goddamn story.
 
Oh man people are starting to really get on my nerves. Who cares. We are getting Shenmue 3. It needs our funding and Sony, as they have said and why. Drop it and move on. Why was there not this backlash towards Harmonix for Amplitude or Bloodstained??? So many people are so salty it's only on PS4 and it's really annoying.
Amen.
 
People seriously have to be naive to believe that Yu Suzuki would be making the announcement together with Sony without any kind of deal in place.

We know what the deal was. If your niche cult title can raise 2mil in 31 days, we will throw funds into the ring. There is nothing "sneaky" going on. They were plenty open about this.

3 mil in less than a day and a half made that decision that much easier.

I wonder if Polygon are going to announce how much advertising revenue they make from people clicking on that story which was created because Sony are helping Ys Net fund Sega's game?

Hopefully they'll present it as a pie chart to keep it simple.

Good point. We need to know this business information.

"Polygon's clickbait advertising revenue is a mystery, and why that's a problem."

Funny, but it is sad cause it is true.

Well, it usually seems that the people so worried about a KS game budget are invariably people who don't like KS and haven't put any money on the line at all.

So they're freaking out over a problem that only they perceive and that doesn't directly impact them in the least.

It's a weird "I'm protecting you for your own good from this vague thing I dislike... Mainly because people aren't giving me money like that. I don't get why you think I'm being annoying."

Kind of ironic isn't it?

The irony in being called Polygon but only having one angle.

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Polygon's funding isn't a mystery. It was that IE money. That is why this is a problem.

And this is why we never get articles for them questioning MSFT's practices.

Oh man people are starting to really get on my nerves. Who cares. We are getting Shenmue 3. It needs our funding and Sony, as they have said and why. Drop it and move on. Why was there not this backlash towards Harmonix for Amplitude or Bloodstained??? So many people are so salty it's only on PS4 and it's really annoying.

I wager this is 95% of the negativity.
 
I was totally confused why (that fucking "gaming" website) and other derogatory remarks were being thrown around in this thread and I forgot the word replacer extension in my browser was still enabled.

Polygon is a day late. They need to keep up with the rest of the internet.
 
This is the case for a significant amount of game kickstarters. Even smaller projects that don't need it use KS for marketing.
 
I don't like that people out up 2 million bucks without a solid goal. Do u even get a tech demo? What was paid for?

For me its different if u got a game after the 2 million is spent.
 
That's the risk you are taking when you use kickstarter though. They don't have to guarantee you shit. So no if a kickstarter doesn't bring you the final product that's not something you get to complain about because you funded the project with that in mind.

It honestly sounds like you don't understand Kickstarter.
 
At least Polygon didn't run an article called "The Shenmue III Kickstarter is a scam and a fraud", as some on GAF are positing.
 
We know what the deal was. If your niche cult title can raise 2mil in 31 days, we will throw funds into the ring. There is nothing "sneaky" going on. They were plenty open about this.

3 mil in less than a day and a half made that decision that much easier.

Oh, I wasn't trying to imply "sneakiness" at all. I was just pointing out that the manner and context in which the kickstarter was launched simply made the involvement of Sony quite obvious.
 
Okay, I just found out the Kickstarter page has been updated with new FAQ questions:

Can you make an open world game for just $2 million?

No, we cannot make an open world game for $2 million. Shenmue will be produced using both the funds raised from the Kickstarter and through other funding sources already secured by Ys Net Inc. We are very sorry, but due to contractual obligations, details of outside investments will not be disclosed.

How will the funds raised through Kickstarter be used?

The funding collected through Kickstarter will go towards game development, minus Kickstarter's fees and the costs associated with running a Kickstarter.


Fair enough.

We got a good enough answer.

Close Thread Plz.
 
I don't get the controversy. The game is getting made who fucking cares about the rest?
 
That's the risk you are taking when you use kickstarter though. They don't have to guarantee you shit. So no if a kickstarter doesn't bring you the final product that's not something you get to complain about because you funded the project with that in mind.

It honestly sounds like you don't understand Kickstarter.

I think Littlefang is right though. Kickstarter claim to protect backers' money if the project falls through via their T&Cs, but I'm pretty sure it's just lip service and they don't police it.
 
I don't think anyone expects a 2015 version of Shenmue, with all the depth and fidelity that is now possible. I think people just want to finish the goddamn story.

This. I'm expecting a main hub and some outlying areas. At the end the day. This is Kickstarted game with some outside funding. Give some exploration, some fighting gameplay. But I'm here for some interesting characters and finishing off the story.
 
I've got to say the more I think about this the shadier I do think it feels.

They're advertising stretch goals but Sony is paying for the vast majority of the budget. So if it doesn't reach the stretch goals Sony is really going to release it with no subtitles on PS4? Is Sony not going to help with fleshing out the villages if those stretch goals aren't reached?

This whole thing just feels wrong to me. And I hate saying that because it's giving us fucking Shenmue.
 
I think Littlefang is right though. Kickstarter claim to protect backers' money if the project falls through via their T&Cs, but I'm pretty sure it's just lip service and they don't police it.

"...if a kickstarter doesn't bring you the final product that's not something you get to complain about because you funded the project..."

Does this sound like the workings of Kickstarter? We're not even talking about compensation, this is whether people have the right to complain if a funded Kickstarter fails to deliver a product.
 
This. I'm expecting a main hub and some outlying areas. At the end the day. This is Kickstarted game with some outside funding. Give some exploration, some fighting gameplay. But I'm here for some interesting characters and finishing off the story.

And some Lucky Hit.


Actually, just make the game a Lucky Hit Simulator.


With some Capsules too.
 
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