Yu Suzuki leaving Sega, at a time of transition.

[Bluecast]

But a transplant is always a possibility under the right conditions, and for the right price, with the surgery being done by one of the best up and coming surgeons.


Using the metaphor there too btw......

But those waiting lists are very very very very very very very long. That is if you're lucky enough to just get one. But still doesn't fix the psychological issues that come with the bad heart in the first place. Sega has financially healed but doing another console or Shenmue those psychological effects are still very much there and give them what I have. Flashbacks(battle fatigue)

[Dorian]

LOL

Loving this medical metaphors.

[darksniper]

All the money and resource they wasted on Shenmue online could of gone into Shenmue 3 production. What a waste.

Then just lose more money. Like it or not Shenmue is Sega's biggest failure. More than 32X,Game Gear,Saturn(USA) and Dreamcast. They were just to arrogant to think one game could save the company. I at the same time applaud the effort at the same time. But Shenmue series has pretty much no hope. I don't like saying it but it's true.
It nearly killed them and like a paranoid heart patient anything that reminds you of the thing that almost killed you,you rather stay the hell away from.

I have to respectfully disagree. Shenmue goes down in history as one of the top 5 highest selling Dreamcast games ever made. Regardless of it's critical sucess or it's commercial failure, we can all agree that Shenmue did leave it's mark forever in gaming history.

The reason why Shenmue failed is because of Sega's past mistakes. If Sega had any financial success with the systems that you mentioned above, the hit they would have taken from Shenmue wouldn't have been as critical. Make no mistake about it, Sega's corporate decisions from the early to mid 90's was Sega's biggest failure. Shenmue was just the dagger that put Sega out of their misery.

[Dorian]

They didn't even pay for it. The money were from the all-loving sponsor. What killed SEGA was - hahahaha - his death. They never seriously thought that Shenmue alone can save their asses. They just didn't think so problems would pile up. Besides, the money went mainly on technology which was used in later years, so it's really not a black and white image.

It's also not like SEGA died. We all thought it was the case, but they've been doing good stuff lately. The old SEGA is gone, but the new one is a pretty nice bitch in its own right.

[Peter]

Its unique in the majority of its aspects, but thats why its developed such a cult classic status as it has, not only amongst us gamers, but also within the industry.

Also, if we take into account (if true) what Suzuki said regarding the development costs in that they didnt rack up 70 million, but rather 45 million..... then it wasnt as bad a financial failure as what its been originally feared for the best part of 10 years. Even the Dreamcast has developed the same cult classic status over time, and both the DC and Shenmue will continue to grow within this niche as time goes on. I honestly dont feel that Shenmue is dead, or we will not see any more releases/an ending to the story. My hopes are high for the next generation of consoles, and despite what more experienced gaming compulsives on these boards think, i still feel that Sega re-entering the hardware market isnt out of the realms of possibility either.

My positivity for the series will never decrease, simply because of both its history and status within the industry. Its not a game thats gone through 10 years of silence. Despite not having a release in 8 years, its still always been in the news at least on a yearly basis. In that respect its not a failure. Its still got a dedicated fanbase, and personally i cant even see that decreasing over the next 10 years. I wouldnt want any other game to be my favourite. Never.

[darksniper]

Its unique in the majority of its aspects, but thats why its developed such a cult classic status as it has, not only amongst us gamers, but also within the industry.

Also, if we take into account (if true) what Suzuki said regarding the development costs in that they didnt rack up 70 million, but rather 45 million..... then it wasnt as bad a financial failure as what its been originally feared for the best part of 10 years. Even the Dreamcast has developed the same cult classic status over time, and both the DC and Shenmue will continue to grow within this niche as time goes on. I honestly dont feel that Shenmue is dead, or we will not see any more releases/an ending to the story. My hopes are high for the next generation of consoles, and despite what more experienced gaming compulsives on these boards think, i still feel that Sega re-entering the hardware market isnt out of the realms of possibility either.

My positivity for the series will never decrease, simply because of both its history and status within the industry. Its not a game thats gone through 10 years of silence. Despite not having a release in 8 years, its still always been in the news at least on a yearly basis. In that respect its not a failure. Its still got a dedicated fanbase, and personally i cant even see that decreasing over the next 10 years. I wouldnt want any other game to be my favourite. Never.

To add to that..

If Sega were to announce Shenmue III RIGHT NOW, the buzz would generate across major gaming websites and magazines immediately. Sega seems to not realize that even a screenshot of Shenmue III would make the internet go nuts. In fact, it's not far fetched to say that Shenmue III would be Sega's most talked about game since their exit from the hardware field.

[Bluecast]

Believe what you want but Shenmue helped send them to bankruptcy. That's just a plain fact.
You keep letting the fanboyism of the game blind you from that. hey Ys4/5 almost sent Falcom belly up.
BTW Sega NEVER left the hardware market just the console market.

[Riku Rose]

The only way we I can see anything Shenmue related would be on the current console online stores. Even then I can't see sales being that great to convince SEGA to do anything. The majority of gamers in this day and age are only intrested in the big titles on offer. Shenmue has so much going against it to be a big hit. It may have been one of the Dreamcast biggest sellers but back then gamers where very different.

If we are lucky enough to see anything else Shenmue related released I'm pretty sure it will be the final nail in the coffin.

[Peter]

That is true, regarding the current state of the gaming market. Thats why i feel a launch title of a redone (and complete on 1 disc) Shenmue will be the only way to generate sales high enough to consider it a "success". Not only that, but as a launch, it can be that "something different" that is usually in amongst launch titles. With the next generation approaching, theres no doubt gonna be a mass of racers/FPS titles. But well put it like this, if a Shenmue title is to come in the next 3 years, then tthe exact same mistake would be made as was made with Shenmue II, in that it would be released right at the end of a consoles life span.

[QWERTY]

People need to remember that the majority of what was spent on Shenmue was research. That has been done for the whole series, obviously. What has been done, can not be undone. It is a hell of a lot easier to make a game on a grand scale nowadays, like Shenmue originally was back in the day. There was a massive amount of detail which had never been seen before, this is now the norm. I'm being optimistic here, it doesn't happen often, but I truly believe "the saga will continue..."

[The_Intruder]

Giving voices to every character in the game must be the most expensive part in the making. I wonder how much it will cost to make a proper Shenmue game.

[Peter]

3 key areas were the main money draining aspects of Shenmue's Development:

- Research
- Voice recordings in multiple languages
- Switching from the Sega Saturn, to the Sega Dreamcast


These 3 areas are what makes me doubt that Suzuki was being totally true, saying that it only cost 40 million and not 70 million to make. I would be more inclined to say that it was somewhere inbetween. But also as Dan said, if everyone on the face of the earth who had bought a Dreamcast at that time also bought a copy of Shenmue, it still would have lost money rather than make a profit.
But taking this into account, surely Sega will have used this to learn a lot of lesson for the future. Using 87 programmers for a start was a major mistake (Suzukis reference to "noodled becoming fat" recently), and also placing all your eggs into one game on one system, then only releasing the game 2 months prior to your extremely hyped rival is also a bad business move, even disregarding the fact that its already been transfered from one console to another. I dont feel Shenmues creation should put off Sega from completing the franchise, i feel it should be used as an example of how not to do things, and if they are going to revisit Shenmue, then do it right!

[The_Intruder]

It was actually 47 million dollars Peter.

[Peter]

oh right

[The_Intruder]

Like you said switching from one console to another was expensive. They had to start everything from scratch. They accomplish so much on the saturn. They should release a playable version with Shenmue 3 as a treat.