Shu Yoshida clarifies "Are they or arn't they funding?"

[shredingskin]

They still need to make the new tiers, that will bring something more to the table.

I'd love if they made the 500 tier to 400, a new 750 and 1000 tier. Those should be basic.

[Luke_09]

The Kickstarter made around $60,000 yesterday (that's what somebody told me, I'm not sure if that's accurate). If that's an average day then it'll make another $1.5 million, meaning it'll finish around $5 million dollars. Kickstarters tend to serge at the end so it'll probably do a bit more than that. Hopefully.


If Sony really do double the Kickstarter or if that $10 million figure includes other investors, then everything should be okay.

If not, then a lot of us are going to have to sell non-essential organs. Hell maybe even essential organs, who is willing to make that sacrifice?

I can confirm that is correct, I've been keeping track of how much it has been making daily. Yesterday it did indeed make approximately $60,000.

Fingers crossed we get a significant surge at the end!

[mue 26]

I think Yu was just talking about the kickstarter funds when he mentioned the 10 million figure. He has probably already calculated roughly what he can unlock from other investors if the kickstarter does cross the 10 million threshold.

It's looking like it could be tough for us to get that much though. Right now 6 million seems to be the figure that many people are saying it will most likely finish at. I really really hope it can somehow make the 10 million though!

[elfshadowreaper]

I think Yu was just talking about the kickstarter funds when he mentioned the 10 million figure. He has probably already calculated roughly what he can unlock from other investors if the kickstarter does cross the 10 million threshold.

It's looking like it could be tough for us to get that much though. Right now 6 million seems to be the figure that many people are saying it will most likely finish at. I really really hope it can somehow make the 10 million though!

I think this is the situation. Yu says he needs $10 million to make an open world game. I just can't see $10 million being enough for a fully open world game. That's where the "other financial supporters" comes in. We'll just say the other supporters give an even $10 million. That will be $20 million toward the game which makes much more sense for an open world game.

[Luke_09]

I think a big boost to the amount the KickStarter makes will occur when they decide to include more rewards.

I'm sure Yu Suzuki said in the Reddit AMA (or some other source) that they would be putting in more rewards that are between the $250 - $1,000 mark.

Thankfully some larger gaming websites have been raising the awareness that we need to raised $10 million:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015- ... -shenmue-3

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/shenmu ... 0-6428363/

http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/201 ... eddit-ama/

http://www.vg247.com/2015/06/22/shenmue ... le-pc-ps4/

...I just hope that translates to more people wanting to donate more of their money!

[KidMarine]

I think this is the situation. Yu says he needs $10 million to make an open world game. I just can't see $10 million being enough for a fully open world game.

The Witcher 3 was made on $15 million and that is about 50 times bigger than Shenmue 1 and 2 combined with a similar amount of detail. Obviously it'll cost more to make a game in Japan than Poland, but I think it should be very possible to make a game comparable in scope to the first two on $10 million.

[James Brown]

I am confident that after all is said and done, Yu will be able to make the Shenmue 3 that he wants to make without holding back. I donated 300 and plan to put in at least another 200 before the Kickstarter is over

[Doom_Infinite]

In a way I hope they don't offer the PS4 retail disc in the Kickstarter because most of us will buy it again at launch and that will help the sales which should guarantee Shenmue IV.

[ys]

They likely can't be more specific at this point. Boyes basically answered in an interview that they don't reveal such details because of business reasons. I wouldn't be totally surprised though if Sony decides to provide something extra if they see that the project is going good. Just to push it to a higher level since it could also be good for the PS4.

The Witcher 3 was made on $15 million and that is about 50 times bigger than Shenmue 1 and 2 combined with a similar amount of detail. Obviously it'll cost more to make a game in Japan than Poland, but I think it should be very possible to make a game comparable in scope to the first two on $10 million.

Interesting information.

[Henry Spencer]

In a way I hope they don't offer the PS4 retail disc in the Kickstarter because most of us will buy it again at launch and that will help the sales which should guarantee Shenmue IV.

That is why I think they aren't. They know us Shenmue fans are crazy like that...

[Jeff]

I would like them to clarify exactly how much of 'other investment and support' in the amount of currency they are working with. They sure as hell couldn't put together a game of this scale with a minimum of 2 million. Don't forget these monies are subject to taxes! What would be left?

[killthesagabeforeitkillsu]

I think this is the situation. Yu says he needs $10 million to make an open world game. I just can't see $10 million being enough for a fully open world game.

The Witcher 3 was made on $15 million and that is about 50 times bigger than Shenmue 1 and 2 combined with a similar amount of detail. Obviously it'll cost more to make a game in Japan than Poland, but I think it should be very possible to make a game comparable in scope to the first two on $10 million.

The $15M number was spread around in 2013 and is false. Witcher 3 had a $67M budget with $35M going into marketing and $32M going into actual game development. They also had help from both Namco Bandai and WB.

Witcher 3 has nowhere near the same level of detail Shenmue had.

[Luke_09]

In a way I hope they don't offer the PS4 retail disc in the Kickstarter because most of us will buy it again at launch and that will help the sales which should guarantee Shenmue IV.

That is why I think they aren't. They know us Shenmue fans are crazy like that...

Good point! They're not stupid. They probably know a lot of us would actually buy it again if it came out as a physical copy.

I know for a fact that I would!

[ys]

I would like them to clarify exactly how much of 'other investment and support' in the amount of currency they are working with. They sure as hell couldn't put together a game of this scale with a minimum of 2 million. Don't forget these monies are subject to taxes! What would be left?

As I mentioned earlier, Boyes answered in an interview that they don't reveal such details because of business reasons. Though I got the impression that they are still waiting a bit to see how things go before making bigger decisions. They also said that they were surprised by how fast the Kickstarter went. So it sounded as if they didn't have the time to discuss a new strategy. It would be nice though if they at one point could be more specific.

They can make it a new stretch goal : at 6 million we'll tell you the funding details

[Master Kyodai]

The will for sure use kickstarter as a tool for measurement. By the amount pledged and the number of backers they will make a decision.

personally i believe the "magic number" here is exactly $5,545,991... Simply because that was what "Bloodstained" made, a rather simple 2D castlevania clone with a gothic theme, but from a guy who is considered godfather at this genre.

So if Shenmue will break the record and gather more money then bloodstained and being "The most successful game at kickstarter ever" it would be hard to argue for Sony why they didn't give Yu Suzuki more resources (or money) for this project.