Why does it matter?
I'll tell you why it matters.
People defended KS in the start because it put the power back in the Devs hands, not investors hands or publisher hands.
I remember all the talk back in the day about how this approach for games meant we'd get the true visions of the devs, not the market research driven approach a publisher would take.
That's all gone with shit like this. If in fact the KS is 1/10th the budget, who has final say on things? You don't know. Maybe it's Sony, maybe it's Yu who is given autonomy to use Sony's money how he see's fit.
KS used this way is pretty much a whale fishing excursion. Currently the Avg is $78.
Yes, people get something for that money. Yet the whole idea that you're funding something that wasn't getting funded is out the window.
Just call it a fucking pre-order then if that's what it is. That's mainly what KS has become.
There are very few facts known about what is being discussed in this thread but one of the facts that is know is what Kickstarter is for, we know exactly what it is for because it's explained perfectly well in the section called
"What is Kickstarter".
Not you in particular but one of the issues in what's being discussed here is that some believe that Kickstarter is something that it isn't and then complain when Kickstarter fulfils exactly what it is there to do.
According to Ys Net, if they don't raise $2 million then, quite simply "
Shenmue 3 will not go forward". Why? We don't know so any discussion about why is pointless as it no more than guesswork. What we do know however is that Ys Net do not own Shenmue in any shape or form and maybe Sega isn't willing to let them use their IP without it being paid for in advance. Maybe it's because Sony aren't willing to stump up money until they know that Ys Net have that money to spend.
We all know that $2 million was never going to be an issue but I'm sure that we all know that this is unlikely to be a profitable game, even if every single person on GAF bought a copy they're surely going to be losing money. Yu Suzuki clearly loves these games and it appears to mean everything to him so maybe he is willing to lose some of his personal investment but that doesn't mean that Sony & Sega are happy to hand over money just to create good will amongst the thousands of people who will hopefully buy it.
I can't imagine that any of the involved parties (including people who will be investing outside of Kickstarter that we'll never know about) are going into this believing that they are going to make loads of money. This idea that Sony should fund this game, which isn't actually their game' because they have money is as ludicrous as saying that they should be giving away Uncharted 4 for free when it releases, because they have money.
Anybody investing in this project has a right to get something out of it even if that return isn't financial. We all know why Yu Suzuki is doing this, why are Sega doing this? We don't know but it could really be as simple as they're being given $2 million because of this Kickstarter. I'm investing and I'm, hopefully, getting the game if it reaches full production, that's my own return on this project.
I believe it's wrong that people are seemingly twisting what is happening here and I don;t understand it. I'm really not a major Shenmue fan but I'm backing it because I think it's a really positive thing and I'm not understanding how anybody could possibly think that they are being conned here. It's clearly coming to PS4 and PC because Sony are offering something to Ys Net, Sega or even both. I'd understand people being upset if Sony had said something along the lines of "Nope, we're not involved in any way. It's just not coming to other consoles because Sega really like us", but that clearly hasn't happened here.
It's a real shame that people are choosing to make this a negative but if anybody doesn't like it then they certainly don't have have to back it or buy the game when it's out. You've made you're choice and I have no issues with anybody making that choice.