At a Game Developers Conference session in San Francisco today, Yu Suzuki revealed that Sega may allow him to make Shenmue 3 in the future. The question arose from a stack of audience questions, with one audience member inquiring simply, "when will Shenmue 3 be released?"
“Well, I want to make it,” began Suzuki. “About 200 people will buy it, I think. But funding is an issue,” he said. He first cleared up a few facts about the original Shenmue.
First of all, the game was to be the Dreamcast's killer app. “We talked about a Virtua Fighter RPG," he said, "with Akira as the character we would use.”
“From the beginning, the new title without using Akira would be more acceptable,” he said, so they went in a different direction. According to Suzuki, the $70 million Sega said it cost was an embellishment. It was "only $47 million," he said. "Well, maybe I shouldn't say only," he joked.
Where did all that money go, in 1999? “We spent it on development and marketing… actually where did we spend it again?” he joked.
Getting back around to the subject of Shenmue 3, Suzuki finally stated, “Probably Sega will let me make it. I think. It's simply a problem of budget.”
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I'd like to hope word of mouth and general resonance from the loyal fanbase that has supported this series since the very beginning has caused ripples to turn into at least small waves of recognition for the series and a 3rd game, if produced, will sell enough to at least break even for SEGA. The Shenmue games have sat comfortably atop the list of my most favorite and impactful games of all time since I first played them back in 2000 and 2001 respectively. I can see it always being that way. As much as it pains me to know the state in which a Shenmue III would have to be released (for those who don't really know, the Shenmue story is WAY deeper than what could ever remotely fit in three games, meaning massive cuts will have to be made in addition to the cuts that have already been made), I would not hesitate to support the series from day 1 like I have always done (owner of the original Shenmue, and both versions of Shenmue II).
1. Start being more awesome. Ya know, like the old days.
2. Test the Shenmue waters with an HD collection of 1 and 2 on XBLA/PSN/Steam, since those are all the rage now (Team ICO, God of War, Sly Collection, etc). Add in a bunch of directors cut material, dev commentaries, a making-of featurette, etc. Kick it out the door on a measly budget. The sales of that would probably give them a pretty accurate perspective on how big the Shenmue fan-base really is and how well Shenmue 3 would sell.
3. Make Shenmue 3 and profit OR make more pachinko machines and fade into obscurity.
Ah...I kid. Me and Sega go way back. We're like this *crosses fingers*.
Yeah, I'm looking at you Sonic and Sega all star racing