Here are a few quick Q&A snippets I translated from an interview with Yu Suzuki published online by GAME Watch ( June 19 article ). The interview timing was just after the first $2 million Kickstarter milestone was passed.

I skipped most of the Q&A since they were pretty much what has been covered before, and picked out the following few :


First Kickstarter goal reached! Interview with Yu Suzuki on Shenmue 3

--- Will you be adding members to the development team going forward?
YS: The core team members will be from Neilo, but I have in mind certain other people who I would also like to ask to join - “if this much funding is raised, I'll invite that person...”, there a few people like that.

-- As part of the Kickstarter rewards, there is the $10,000 “Dinner with Yu Suzuki” reward, and the 3 available places were filled in an instant, weren't they. What do you plan to talk about with the participants at the dinner?
YS: The reason I particularly limited the number to just 3 people is because I wanted to spend plenty of time speaking with each of them one at a time, and really get to know their thoughts. It's not so much a question of what topics we will speak about, but more that I want to be able to take in what they have to say.

-- Is there anything else you can tell us?
YS: Since we made the announcement at the PlayStation conference, I am frequently asked whether SCE will be providing funding support. I haven't been able to speak on this until now, but: they will be providing some funding support with respect to development costs. To go further on this topic, we also have other funding planned in addition, but even with that added on, the funding would not have been enough. The funding shortfall is the reason that we started Kickstarter.