Shenmue freaking 3 kickstarter! It's happening!

Funding a game based on its performance on Kickstarter makes zero sense. For something niche like Shenmue, it's actually a rough estimate of how much it will actually sell. Reaching the funding goal this quickly is impressive, but if the closing amount is only a few million, that's a fail.
 
Megalith said:
Funding a game based on its performance on Kickstarter makes zero sense. For something niche like Shenmue, it's actually a rough estimate of how much it will actually sell. Reaching the funding goal this quickly is impressive, but if the closing amount is only a few million, that's a fail.
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I disagree. Consider what they are selling right now. There is no game to show off. There isnt the slightest indication of what the game will be. They are selling a name... An idea. The people buying into that are the ones who played it so long ago. New, younger gamers aren't funding this... They have no reason to. But were talking 14+ years in an industry that has grown by huge amounts. Once the game is funded by the die hard fans, there is still a massive amount of people to sell to if they can bring in new gamers with a quality final product.
 
Okay, I just watched the video and will assume that the Kickstarter merely exists to let Suzuki do everything he actually wants to do. Shenmue 3 was happening regardless, but I guess his initial funding only got him so far in terms of the scale of the game.
 
They need an "HD Remaster" of the first two to come out before this so everyone can catch up. It's been years since the Shenmue series was released and there is a gaming generation that may not have had a chance to play it.
 
As someone who is a fan of the originals, I would love an HD remaster. But nobody aside from us gives a shit about Shenmue. It was never popular; it's just that its fanbase is ridiculously fervent.

I just don't see how you can market something like this to the current generation of gamers. I picture them watching a video or booting a demo of this and saying "What is this Asian shit."
 
I'd kill for HD remasters for 1 and 2, but this is insanity. What a great thing to wake up to!
 
Megalith said:
As someone who is a fan of the originals, I would love an HD remaster. But nobody aside from us gives a shit about Shenmue. It was never popular; it's just that its fanbase is ridiculously fervent.

I just don't see how you can market something like this to the current generation of gamers. I picture them watching a video or booting a demo of this and saying "What is this Asian shit."
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This is not marketed to a new generation of gamers nor for gamers who knows nothing about the history of the shenmue franchise. This is for particular huge fan base which are the [H]ardcore fans for this particular game.

To be honest, the control sucks compare to current games, but that's not the reason why I would play this game, but because of the story and if you played the previous shenmue games, you'd learn the life of Ryo and appreciate what he was trying to do and the crap that he went through just to find the murderer of his father.
 
They actually address it in the comments if there will be remasters of 1 and 2. The answer is a very simple no comment, Sega still owns the rights.

Hopefully Sega is smart enough to capitalize on Shenmue being thrown back into the public eye. Get the game running in 1080p60, maybe update the controls for a modern gamepad, and call it a day. Get it available digitally on PS4 and Steam for a fair price. They will make money.
 
Viper87227 said:
They actually address it in the comments if there will be remasters of 1 and 2. The answer is a very simple no comment, Sega still owns the rights.

Hopefully Sega is smart enough to capitalize on Shenmue being thrown back into the public eye. Get the game running in 1080p60, maybe update the controls for a modern gamepad, and call it a day. Get it available digitally on PS4 and Steam for a fair price. They will make money.
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You know that they are only going to package it with an emulator and call it a day.
 
cageymaru said:
You know that they are only going to package it with an emulator and call it a day.
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Yes, I realize that's a lot more likely. But it's nice to dream. Either way, I'd replay it. I can't imagine Sega will ignore this.
 
Shenmue 1 & 2 emulated properly is fine with me. Hell the only thing I would want in a remaster is widescreen. IMO the game looks just fine upscaled in an emulator.
 
Viper87227 said:
Yes, I realize that's a lot more likely. But it's nice to dream. Either way, I'd replay it. I can't imagine Sega will ignore this.
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Look at Sega's recent history. I can imagine them making all manner of mistakes before blowing everything up and going mobile like Konami.
 
You guys are being too hard on SEGA. They actually like the niche, small projects, as you can see the awesomeness that is every new SEGA 3D Classic that they put on the 3DS shop. Arcade versions of the ports with an incredible amount of additional enhancements and options. If they took this as serious as those ports, then they would surely touch up the games a bit before releasing.
This is the same SEGA that just recently brought Valkyria Chronicles to Steam.
PS3, Valkyria Chronicles. Just because people begged on twitter. SEGA will move if they see some interest. If this hits 5-10 million, they will have to say something.
 
LeviathanZERO said:
Wonderful. I hope SEGA is watching closely.
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This. Re-releasing 1 and 2 at the height of all this Shenmue buzz would almost surely be profitable. Just about everyone who owned the first two games would be on board. Likewise, I think enough time has passed that their a a shitload of younger gamers wondering wtf Shenmue is and why everyone is so crazy about it that would buy it just out of curiosity.
 
Wasn't this a PS1 game or something? I remember the name but not the system or what type of game it was.
 
Dion said:
Sony has plenty of money to fund this. I can't believe so many people get sucked into this stuff.
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There is no way Sony would fund this when it's been proven that these games were over budget and unprofitable in the past.
 
yourgrandma said:
There is no way Sony would fund this when it's been proven that these games were over budget and unprofitable in the past.
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I can't help but wonder what sort of budget would be required to build Shenmue today. 1:1 with the original game (with the exception of modern assets). I don't know jack shit about video game development, but it seems like these days it's dominated by engine suites (UE, Source, Unity, etc.) which have simplified the entire process. The reality is, all the things that were new and complicated in Shenmue are now very basic gameplay elements. I have to imagine that in today's gaming industry, Shenmue would cost a faction of what it did to develop (especially considering this started as a Saturn title).

I'm most curious to see how a ~$6M Shenmue game compares to a ~$50M ($70M with inflationn) Shenmue game.
 
Viper87227 said:
I can't help but wonder what sort of budget would be required to build Shenmue today. 1:1 with the original game (with the exception of modern assets). I don't know jack shit about video game development, but it seems like these days it's dominated by engine suites (UE, Source, Unity, etc.) which have simplified the entire process. The reality is, all the things that were new and complicated in Shenmue are now very basic gameplay elements. I have to imagine that in today's gaming industry, Shenmue would cost a faction of what it did to develop (especially considering this started as a Saturn title).

I'm most curious to see how a ~$6M Shenmue game compares to a ~$50M ($70M with inflationn) Shenmue game.
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It was $47 to develop both games plus the saturn version. There wasn't the tools and middleware thats available today. Back then they were developing the engine as well as all the systems that were in the game from scratch. Also their vision was difficult to get it to run on modern hardware. There was alot of time and money used to get the game to work on the dreamcast. Now hardware isn't primitive like it was back in 1999.

Also with engines like Unreal 4 and many middleware applications the small tedious things that would take a long time in the past are greatly reduced. So they essentially only to worry about creation.

If you watch Yu Suzuki's presentation at GDC 2014 he talks about the weird tricks they had to come up with to get the stuff to run on the dreamcast.

The $2 million was to make the game. The rest of the stretch goals was for things like side quests, mini games, and advanced battle system. Also $6 million is just what raised through Kickstarter. There are still funding from outside sources. Paypal will also be an option going past the kickstarter to get more funds.
 
It was actually in development for 4 years for the Sega Saturn before the Dreamcast.

Not many people know that.
 
Going to Epic Store exclusive. I guess I backed this so long ago that Kickstarter doesn't even recognize I backed it.
 
djoye said:
Going to Epic Store exclusive. I guess I backed this so long ago that Kickstarter doesn't even recognize I backed it.
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I thought I backed this, but I must not have because it isn't on the account I backed Mordhau with.
Do we have to wait until it shows up on EGS to pre-order now?
 
sharknice said:
I thought I backed this, but I must not have because it isn't on the account I backed Mordhau with.
Do we have to wait until it shows up on EGS to pre-order now?
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It's on EGS, but not available for purchase yet. My guess is waiting for the sale to end.
 
sharknice said:
I thought I backed this, but I must not have because it isn't on the account I backed Mordhau with.
Do we have to wait until it shows up on EGS to pre-order now?
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After digging around, I think I went through Slacker Backer or something else, so Kickstarter doesn't know I backed it. I'm guessing they weren't initially on Kickstarter.
 
You know, I was looking forward to this. EGS exclusivity (thanks, Deep Silver!) has turned me off to it. Wake me up when it's on Steam.
 
Mr. Bluntman said:
You know, I was looking forward to this. EGS exclusivity (thanks, Deep Silver!) has turned me off to it. Wake me up when it's on Steam.
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A message from Ys Net, Epic Games and Deep Silver


Hello Everyone,

We want to make sure that the Backers are aware that we are listening to their concerns. We kindly ask all our fans to have some patience, we are currently at E3 demoing the game and need to get back to our respective offices to assess the situation and together find a way forward to justify the trust you placed in us.

Thank you for your patience and support.
 
Okay... They're "assess[ing] the situation." The cynic in me has the feeling they are going to finish assessing and determine that their move to Epic Game Store exclusivity was the right one and continue along like nothing happened. Money talks, bullshit walks (right to the bank, apparently).

cageymaru said:
A message from Ys Net, Epic Games and Deep Silver


Hello Everyone,

We want to make sure that the Backers are aware that we are listening to their concerns. We kindly ask all our fans to have some patience, we are currently at E3 demoing the game and need to get back to our respective offices to assess the situation and together find a way forward to justify the trust you placed in us.

Thank you for your patience and support.
Click to expand...
 
Mr. Bluntman said:
Okay... They're "assess[ing] the situation." The cynic in me has the feeling they are going to finish assessing and determine that their move to Epic Game Store exclusivity was the right one and continue along like nothing happened. Money talks, bullshit walks (right to the bank, apparently).
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The game is already confirmed to be a timed exclusive (although they have not said for how long). My guess is that they will offer backers the option to wait out the exclusivity window for a Steam key, or (less likely) issue EGS keys at launch to all PC backers with the promise that they will also get a Steam key when the game releases on that platform. They may also appeal to Steam to allow them to issue Steam keys based on the fact that it will eventually be for sale on that platform. I doubt Steam (or Epic) would go for that, though. I'm trying to remain hopeful about this situation. I personally don't give a damn what platform I play it on, and I'd like to hope that whatever compensation they received was used to make Shenmue 3 the best it can possibly be. That said, I'd hate for the backlash and potential lost sales to risk the future of Shenmue 4, etc.

This is a perfect example of why I wish people would settle down a little bit on the EGS shit. I mean, I get why people don't like the platform or what they are doing... but fans of Shenmue have waiting nearly two fucking decades for this game. If Shenmue 3 is not profitable, the franchise is unquestionably dead. Is boycotting EGS really more important than the vitality of a much beloved, yet very fragile franchise? Are we, as a community, willing to kill off this franchise because it's not on our prefered launcher?
 
Viper87227 said:
The game is already confirmed to be a timed exclusive (although they have not said for how long). My guess is that they will offer backers the option to wait out the exclusivity window for a Steam key, or (less likely) issue EGS keys at launch to all PC backers with the promise that they will also get a Steam key when the game releases on that platform. They may also appeal to Steam to allow them to issue Steam keys based on the fact that it will eventually be for sale on that platform. I doubt Steam (or Epic) would go for that, though. I'm trying to remain hopeful about this situation. I personally don't give a damn what platform I play it on, and I'd like to hope that whatever compensation they received was used to make Shenmue 3 the best it can possibly be. That said, I'd hate for the backlash and potential lost sales to risk the future of Shenmue 4, etc.

This is a perfect example of why I wish people would settle down a little bit on the EGS shit. I mean, I get why people don't like the platform or what they are doing... but fans of Shenmue have waiting nearly two fucking decades for this game. If Shenmue 3 is not profitable, the franchise is unquestionably dead. Is boycotting EGS really more important than the vitality of a much beloved, yet very fragile franchise? Are we, as a community, willing to kill off this franchise because it's not on our prefered launcher?
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I don't support bait and switch. If your most cherished fans want a Steam key, then you give them a Steam key on day one. You don't make them wait a year.

What this really taught me is to never, ever back another game in Early Access, Kickstarter, etc.

Just my opinion. Everyone has one. :)
 
cageymaru said:
I don't support bait and switch. If your most cherished fans want a Steam key, then you give them a Steam key on day one. You don't make them wait a year.

What this really taught me is to never, ever back another game in Early Access, Kickstarter, etc.

Just my opinion. Everyone has one. :)
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Generally speaking, I'm not on board with the Epic hate. I don't really need to elaborate or turn this thread into another EGS debate thread, so we'll take it at face value that I just don't give a shit and don't understand why others care so much.

What Deep Silver did with Shenmue is different. I unquestionably understand why people are upset. Every other EGS exclusive I'm aware of has either only been sold on EGS, or else pre-orders have been honored on Steam before the change was made. This is the first time I know of that we've seen pre-orders taken for Steam but not being honored on Steam. It's a bad situation and it's not even remotely acceptable. That being said, I'd rather live in a world where publishers are shitty and I get to see the conclusion of the Shenmue saga than one where publishers are kept honest but Shenmue dies with it's third game. I know I'm supporting anti-consumer behavior, but my desire for Shenmue is greater than my disdain for sleazy business practices. Any other game and I'd join right into the hate, but Shenmue is just too fragile of a franchise and dealing with an EGS switcheroo is the lesser of two evils in my opinion.
 
Viper87227 said:
Generally speaking, I'm not on board with the Epic hate. I don't really need to elaborate or turn this thread into another EGS debate thread, so we'll take it at face value that I just don't give a shit and don't understand why others care so much.

What Deep Silver did with Shenmue is different. I unquestionably understand why people are upset. Every other EGS exclusive I'm aware of has either only been sold on EGS, or else pre-orders have been honored on Steam before the change was made. This is the first time I know of that we've seen pre-orders taken for Steam but not being honored on Steam. It's a bad situation and it's not even remotely acceptable. That being said, I'd rather live in a world where publishers are shitty and I get to see the conclusion of the Shenmue saga than one where publishers are kept honest but Shenmue dies with it's third game. I know I'm supporting anti-consumer behavior, but my desire for Shenmue is greater than my disdain for sleazy business practices.
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Well from my standpoint, when we back games on Kickstarter, consumers are sticking their necks out without a guarantee that the product will be delivered. Then this situation happens. Thus I have lost all faith in ever backing another game via crowdfunding.

I'm not trying to discourage you from turning your nose up and backing games that you want to see made. Its all good! But for me... I'm done. Never again will I stick my neck out for someone to spit in my face.


I bought Hades during the Epic Games Store sale. So I'm not a hater; just being 100% honest in how I feel about bait and switch tactics.
 
the original kickstarter only specified a digital key. the survey that specified steam came out 3 years later. that was some 2 years ago. what if steam no longer existed? would you still be upset that you couldn't get a steam key? Things change, in this case it is such a large change that it is impossible to ignore. Selling on EGS allows then to collect an addition $9 per sale. If they manage 3 million in sales that will be 27 million extra revenue. The entire kickstarter brought in 7 million. Yes, they will lose sales due to it not being on steam. But if it does go on steam they then can do another launch cycle.
 
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