Shenmue Dojo

Interview by John Linneman (Digital Foundry) for Eurogamer.net

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017- ... -yu-suzuki

Sitting down with Shenmue 3 and Yu Suzuki
I see.

"As Suzuki noted earlier, however, Unreal Engine is more flexible when it comes to prototyping ideas. It's much easier to gain an understanding of how a certain mechanic or concept will function within the game and it will be interesting to see how this freedom influences the final product. With two years of work complete, a full staff and the financial backing of Deep Silver it feels like the team is shifting into high gear."

Remarkable article as expected from the DF Retro's man.

Nice article! It's clear though that Shenmue 3 still has a long ways to go.

The partnership with Deep Silver was forged at the end of June, meaning that additional funding would have been provided thereafter. Recruitment of additional staff would then have followed over the next two months, which brings us up to September.

The game has finally reached full production status after two years of being undermanned and underfunded. I'd surmise that Shenmue 3 at full production capacity will not see a release for at least 14-16 months, depending on team size. This would bring us into a November 2018 - January 2019 time period.

Nice Eurogamer for spreading the Shenmue Love

Loved the VF3 Saturn question at the end. It's been rumored that cancellation of the Saturn port really rubbed Suzuki the wrong way. It's a shame he still won't talk about it's development to this day.

Riku Rose wrote: I've been saying from the start that Sega are clearly backing the project, nice to have it confirmed.

To what extent is perhaps the more pertinent question.

As a financial backer? I highly doubt it.

More than likely Sega's role is limited to supplying YSNet with any of the required assets (musical scores, etc) and rights from the first two games.

Well... seems that there still is some serious game journalists by the way... that's the most accurate interview I saw until now. It clarify things in a way that readers can understand the dificults Yu Suzuki has to deal with a limited budget but still spread confidence that everything is doing fine and it will turn to be a great game!

It would be nice if they released a FAQ to press (or press sent some sort of FAQ), so every interview has some different content in top of.

Most of the time we get the same responses worded a little different.

shredingskin wrote: It would be nice if they released a FAQ to press (or press sent some sort of FAQ), so every interview has some different content in top of.

Most of the time we get the same responses worded a little different.

I think journalists also ask questions for their very own audience so the usual questions about Shenmue 1 & 2 are a required step.

I don't know if it's luck or a purposed synergy but we manage to learn something new interview after interview. With more than 20 interviews with Suzuki, that's quite an achievement. Credit to Yu for always wording his answers with a subtle additional information to the same questions.