SHENMUE 3 ANNOUNCED FOR PS4 KICKSTARTER (INFORMATION INSIDE)

[shredingskin]

Yeah, we've been daily upping bloodstained, but these two last days we're behind them.

Yesterday we made 44k that was really low.

[Amir]

I don't understand the rationale behind drip-feeding the interview videos in updates, and not even having them on the main Kickstarter page? They're interesting for us backers but they're not the kind of thing that will get new people on board, and as I said they're not even on the main page!

[johnvivant]

why haven't they added an image and explanation of the $3000 jacket tier on the main section of the kickstarter page (to the left)? i think including an image of the jacket will really help, since its amazing.

[Shenhua-Nani?]

It has slowed down so much.... barely 2k$ in the last 3 hours.

Thank you Awesome Japan, fucking thank you.

[johnvivant]

maybe this should be low on their priority list, but it would be good if they changed the Ryo model (face) in the kickstarter video, (and promo shots) to the one shown in the Famitsu article. not urgent but it would be nice.

[spinksy]

That next stretch goal is a big one but it seems so far away

[Reprise]

The funding keeps going down too. It reached $3,580,00, then went down to 3,579,000, then went back up to $3,580,00 and now it's back down to $3,578,000! FFS. What gives? Who are the asswipes dropping their funding?

[AnimeGamer183]

Im going to contribute and keep promoting the kickstarter, but tbh guys I dont think we have anything to worry about. I think whatever the fans dont contribute, sony, or some other able investor will pick up the rest of the slack and let Yu create the game that everyone and the hard core fans have been waiting for. I just dont see this game coming out half assed or half budgeted. A shit ton of people donated during the first few days and im expecting the last few days to be similar, I think the procrastinators will come out more once it gets closer to the dead line, im really not too worried about it, everything is going to be fine, they'll find a way.

[mjq jazz bar]

I'd be a LOT more worried if they hadn't even reached the $2 million goal. The game is now being made regardless. That's enough to calm me down. I do wish Awesome Japan would get their act together and retool the page, though. The stretch goals do not belong at the bottom of the page, for one, and I don't understand why it's taking them so long to fix that.

[johnvivant]

It would be a nice reward for the community if they could release a high quality video of the original shenmue premiere at some point during the campaign. The fans could even sub it if they don't want that work.

Its a well put together and informative video that would be good for general promotion of the series anyway.

[Riku Rose]

Wow the daily amount pledged has dropped like a stone. The Kickstarter raised $44.6k yesterday and has only made around $25k today. If previous Kickstarter projects are anything to go by the amount pledged each day is only going to go down until the last few days. At this point Bloodstained was still making around $100k a day and wasn't doing this badly until it's worst days. I think with Shenmue though you're going to have trouble bringing in new people as it's the third game in the series. The majority of people who buy games don't care if they've played the previous games in the series but people who back Kickstarters are the people who do care if they've missed out.

Each of the first two games sold about a million each and that was around 15 years ago. How many of those million liked Shenmue (Many people don't like it), how many read gaming news sites and how many still play games 15 years later. I have 2 brothers who played the originals who haven't played games much since the PS2 era and they most likely wouldn't know Shenmue III exists until they see it while shopping one day in 2017 and it's on the shelf.

Also if you didn't follow Shenmue news there hasn't been much in the games press about this since the E3 announcement. They really should have come out kicking and screaming and trying to get everyone on the hype train. When you have 30 days to entice people you have to get in their face as you don't have time to play the long game. They had such a chance to promote this at E3 after the conference and all we got was a 5 minute segment on a 3 day livestream and a GameInformer interview. People like the Yooka-Laylee guys had interviews go up on all gaming sites the moment the Kickstarter was announced. Bloodstained had livestreams from day one and ways for the community to interact throughout.

Yu Suzuki should have had an english Twitter like Kojima for awhile before E3 and built up an audience. The Shenmue 3 twitter should be tweeting and getting people excited every couple of hours but they've said nothing on it. His biggest audience is America and he still seems to only be doing interviews with Japanese publications. They should have booked interviews with all big gaming sites well beforehand (You have them sign NDA's, most sites know all the new games announced at E3 weeks beforehand and all journalists book their interviews months in advance). The Reddit was a good idea but felt like it was planned within about 24 hours of happening and was really poorly timed. The Yooka Laylee team had built quite a bit to show as a concept which got people excited, YSnet have nothing to show apart from a stiff scene. Then you also need to make the Kickstarter more welcoming to newcomers and have all the tiers open from the start, someone may see there isn't a psyhical copy tier on day one, decide not to pledge and then never check again. You also need too be more clear about what these new things like technique scrolls and character perspective system are. Average Joe pledger isn't going to read a translated interview from a Japanese magazine to find out.

The next stretch goal is over $400k away and at this rate will take over 10 days to get there. They need to get the PS4 physical copy and Paypal up instantly too save this fizzling out. Once they get into the area where they can hit a stretch goal every 200k they can start building up some hype and excitement again. This was a massive missed opportunity and no matter what they do now they will never get that level of hype from E3 back for the general gaming crowd about this Kickstarter. That first $3 million was down to Shenmue fans and the E3 hype and now that both of those groups have pledged they're giving no one else a reason to jump on board.

They won't hit that $10 million at all. They would need to be hitting about $230-240k a day to get there and are struggling to make $50k now. With every day that passes that target becomes harder and more impossible to hit. Looking at how Kickstarters normally pan out we're looking at about $5.5-6 million should it stay at around $40k a day and have the last day surge. This Kickstarter could be run much much better but for that to happen it has to happen now. Right now.

[ys]

If wonder when we'll hit 0 (choose your favorite currency)? ;)

It was obvious from the start that they mostly targeted the fans and forgot about the others. I don't get why they don't update with information from recent interviews. Or as others said : some artwork, music, even just showing a new area that they have or imported assets? If I were them I would actually start working on something new even if they haven't received the money yet. It's after all this that will lead to more backers.

The Shenmue premiere video is a good idea I think. I would like to see that one in good quality with translations and it could show newcomers how ambitious the series was.

From the updates :

That was an AMAZING first day! And we have only just started! There are still so may stops to make, so let's keep this ship steaming on.

Please do.

[JaySw34]

Im going to contribute and keep promoting the kickstarter, but tbh guys I dont think we have anything to worry about. I think whatever the fans dont contribute, sony, or some other able investor will pick up the rest of the slack and let Yu create the game that everyone and the hard core fans have been waiting for. I just dont see this game coming out half assed or half budgeted. A shit ton of people donated during the first few days and im expecting the last few days to be similar, I think the procrastinators will come out more once it gets closer to the dead line, im really not too worried about it, everything is going to be fine, they'll find a way.

^^^^^^This...

This is what I've felt and believed all along. That's not to say we shouldn't be supporting the Kickstarter. We absolutely should. I've given what I could and plan to donate again before the deadline. But in the end, I feel we've nothing to worry about. We will get the game that Suzuki-san wants to deliver without having to hold back!

[AnimeGamer183]

my only thing is that if for some reason they dont make these goals or the kickstarter stalls, hypothetically speaking and worse case scenario kinda thing, do we really want a half assed shenmue 3? I think thats what Yu himself will have to contemplate in that situation, or dig deeper into his own pockets or his other connections to make this thing everything it deserves to be. Yu is known for making very high profile games, hes one of the greatest and most legendary game creators of all time, and maybe its just me but I just dont see him allowing this to come out as something that is not up to his standards of quality. I think no matter what we get, its going to be fine, I trust Yu to make the right decisions about Shenmue 3. The quality of the game needs to at least be the same as the first 2 games, but if he can make them better than that then great. Obviously we all want it to be as good as it can be, but I think some of us need to lower our expectations a little bit as of right now but still hope for the best and keep promoting the kickstarter. Everything is going to be fine guys, trust in Yu and the fans.

[Jeff]

my only thing is that if for some reason they dont make these goals or the kickstarter stalls, hypothetically speaking and worse case scenario kinda thing, do we really want a half assed shenmue 3? I think thats what Yu himself will have to contemplate in that situation, or dig deeper into his own pockets or his other connections to make this thing everything it deserves to be. Yu is known for making very high profile games, hes one of the greatest and most legendary game creators of all time, and maybe its just me but I just dont see him allowing this to come out as something that is not up to his standards of quality. I think no matter what we get, its going to be fine, I trust Yu to make the right decisions about Shenmue 3. The quality of the game needs to at least be the same as the first 2 games, but if he can make them better than that then great. Obviously we all want it to be as good as it can be, but I think some of us need to lower our expectations a little bit as of right now but still hope for the best and keep promoting the kickstarter. Everything is going to be fine guys, trust in Yu and the fans.

That's exactly what I was about to say. I fear Shenmue won't go out with a roar but instead a whimper. Ys-net made zero, zip, zilch, nada, 0, games prior. Yu Suzuki hasn't made anything in a while. It's like signing a guy to an MLB team who retired 10 years ago and expecting him to perform like before. With the current funding it's like making a NASCAR team with a shoe string budget and expect it to compete with Hendrick Motorsports. The longer this has been going, the more concerned I become. I'm afraid I'll have the same reaction when watching Jurassic World and thinking, 'they shouldn't have done this'. (in regards to Jurassic World my complaints were the storyline)