Were Awesome Japan aware of the Stretch Goals?

[James Brown]

I've woke up this morning, to find the kickstarter total, literally on the same amount I went to bed on, it has well and truely come to a bit of a hault. Now if you try to understand why loads and loads of people aren't still contributing, it's probably because any fan of the series has already backed, or is waiting for alterations to the method of payment, like paypal, or maybe the inclusion of some different rewards.

Now this is what I wanted to talk about...do you feel that Awesome Japan were aware of Yu Suzuki's stretch goals before creating the Kickstarter page? I would honestly say no, or that they were very naive in the pages design. If you consider that this is their first real big Kickstarter project, alot of the reward tiers do feel like they've been thought up by someone aiming high, but not Yu Suzuki high. We know their back history now, and how non of their previous projects got anywhere close to even earning Shenmue 3 current amount.

I think the page was created with this naivity in mind, and the reward tiers were no way on earth designed to obtain 11 mil. 4 $10k tiers which were all snapped up within minutes. Currently 3 $5k tiers? There is no reason paticularly to spend more than $500 towards the game. I mean people could, someone could drop 3 mil at it if they wanted, but the best they'll get is a replica jacket, and it's obvious to see that rewards are what push people to do something. Look at Adam recently, they added that $5k watch, and being the super fan he is, something in his body allowed him to change his pledge from $500, to $5k. This was not realistic for him, and he had to reconsider. But it does show that if people do have more money that they can throw at the game, they need something to help them use it.

Awesome Japan have since added more rewards, and they are currently working on more (...oh wait it's the weekend again, will have to wait till Monday ), but this just proves that the highest goal Yu Suzuki wanted to achieve, wasn't properly thought about in the pages design. We should have more higher rewards from the get go...and is it really out of the question to add something like a crazy $1 mil reward or higher? Haha, like I dunno, maybe live with Yu Suzuki for 2 weeks and have a personal translator follow you 24/7 so you can communicate. It's not out of the question to think that any potential super fan millionaire would jump at something if it was asking for that amount of money. For all we know Bill Gates could be a backer, but he's just sitting at the $500 tier.

How about a 100k ingame shop added based on your feedback, and Ryo can now buy "backers item" - please add a marble shop to the game, where Ryo can buy a bag of marbles! - upon purchase achievement pop's "Have you lost your marbles!?".

It's a shame that this wasn't properly handled from the start, even if no one had backed some of these stupid tiers, it wouldn't have hurt the page in my opinion.

There is still time to fix this, and it'll be interesting to see what they come up with before now and the end of the Kickstarter, but undoubtably, with an 11 mil stretch goal in mind, the page could have at least catered more for it.

[Three Blades]

It seems obvious to me now that the KS will probably reach only 5 millions at the very most.
This makes me worried about what kind of game we are going to get in the end, but didn't he say that he had other sources of funding on top of the KS?
Surely, Suzuki will still be trying to get funding to add the expanded areas and other stretch goals, even if the KS doesn't go past 4 or 5 million?

[Ziming]

Shenmue 3 Kickstarter Confuses Customers, Angers Idiots - Best Video Game Podcast

phpBB [video]

[Shenhua-Nani?]

At least before the twitch stream pledges were still coming, albeit at a slow pace... now? pledges have completely halted, and it's not even a surprise.

I mean anyone with half a brain won't give a cent after seeing what kind of people the money is going to.

Our only hopes are Physical PS4 reward, 30 on the 3rd, and the final push....let's hope those will take us to 5m. Oh and i think the portuguese subtitles goal was another mistake, it literally has made NO difference so far.

[wataro]

it's probably because any fan of the series has already backed, or is waiting for alterations to the method of payment, like paypal, or maybe the inclusion of some different rewards.

Like you say, the added rewards where snapped up in minuets, showing people are ready to throw more money at it IF you give them a reason to.
Apart from PS4 physical fans, them who know about it 90% have backed it.
The thing with Shenmue is the fans are hardcore and been on it for the last 14 years, or are now 30+ with families or other interests and don't play games anymore, haven't heard about it, but would back it if you could reach out to them.

There was like what? 51 places added for grab bag stuff?
if they just got 1000 unique individual frames or art pieces (even unique s copies if sega wont let them go) from the making of shenmue at $1k each im sure that would be 100k easy money.

alot hinges on the new reward tiers and Paypal. Both of which they need to hurry the fuck up with.
I mean estimated delivery date is like 2017, just put up whatever and say disclaimer 'final product may vary' and your covered if you cant nail it, just get shit on that backer page.
You just don't have time to fuck around with a 30 day Kickstarter.
No paypal is like turning down free money, I wonder if its just because Yu is not familiar with it?

It's clear they did not plan this out, it should have been $5m start target, but hindsight is always 20/20 and easy to say.
It will be what it will be now.
I don't feel they are well versed in the actual shenmue product line.

Physical PS4 is down to sony I'm sure, they didnt want to do a disk press because of profit margins, and now they are probably trying to negotiate who pays for the disks and how many @ how much.

Also great podcast link Ziming, really nails my thoughts exactly about not quite awesome Japan, out of their league for this game and project.

I dont see why SEGA cant at least give a shout to the game on the official sega twitter. It's still their fucking IP and will have SEGA in the credits. fuckers.

Will Suzuki go through this again for shenmue 4 ? fuck knows, but it cant be good working with some of these idiots, when you come from places he has been.

Im at the $500 tier, I will drop more with the new tiers, but you can easily fleece more money at 10k like do 2 fucking dinner sessions?????????
I would pay 5k for a copy of the scripts, im sure there would have been loads more grab bag takers but you update the fucking campaign at 4am GMT when I'm fucking asleep? fuck you too.

$25k drive in / with Yu suzuki's Ferrari355 for 1 hour
$5k 20 min video conference with Yu Suzuki
$15 signed picture of Yu Suzuki's pets
fucking anything is better than nothing

Whoever got a dinner and Script PLEASE SCAN THE FUCKING THING INTO A PDF

Missed opportunities. Theirs, not just mine.

I mean I thought about this for shenmue online and this is a bit of a taboo subject, but make the game have a online section like shenmue passport, and in there you can get limited edition capsule toys and moves for REAL MONEY

play capsule toy machines for 円100 a turn,
lucky hit? sure, Vending machines that give you RNG luck up and a chance to get wining cans, collect 5 winning cans to trade for a ultra rare scroll move or gold dural,
chinchiro? sure, gamble away and win big (altohugh touchy laws and server locations...) bypass this with tokens exchange, that can be used as in game currency that can be redeemed for prizes.

play classic YS games outrun, after burner hang on ect in the arcade for 円100 a play! compete for high score!!!!
its away of making back money and funding shenmue4
shit, you could even release this asap and use it to fund shenmue 3 AND give people something to do while waiting for shen3, could have a chat room and private channels simple IRC XDCC or something, anything to take peoples money they WANT to fucking give it to you.

and it would be totally seperate for the off-line no DRM kids muh gameplay ect

and where is the official fucking forums already.

[James Brown]

Agreed, they could have and should have done so much more. Like I say, just adding anything as a potential reward, even if it doesn't get selected, it's not harming anything. But there's literally nothing for people with money to be throwing more than $500 at. When the amount of money affects the quality of the game, something like a drive with Yu in his car is something so easy for Yu to do, but so awesome for the backer to experience and worth the extra money, even if he has to pay for a trip to Japan aswell - people would do this, it's like a reason for them to go on holiday. I'm sure some of the $10k backers having dinner with Yu weren't like...oh wow, how convenient, i'm in Japan that week anyway. It's pushed them to make a decision to go to Japan for their next holiday, and it's not just the dinner that will make the holiday special, I would have thought all 3 would be mega fucking excited to be just going to Japan now! That reward has made a holiday decision that wouldn't have been previously made. More tiers like this could easily have been made, and people would gladly jump at them because everything about them is sooooo exciting!

[mjq jazz bar]

It looks like Cedric Biscag Isn't going to be much help. He just tweeted


@(null): @Shenron_segamag Why send me this message? The KS campaign is the property of YS Net and it is managed by Awesome Japan.

[KidMarine]

@(null): @Shenron_segamag Why send me this message?

Because you're our only conduit to Suzuki and YS Net? Obviously Awesome Japan aren't going to report all the complaints they get.

[mjq jazz bar]

He just said this to me:

@CedricBiscay: @mjqmjqmjq @morning_haze @yu_suzuki_jp 14 years have not destroyed faith in this project. I will not let any companies or people do it.

[mjq jazz bar]

At least he's responding and has some kind of direct line to the team. I know trying to change anything is probably futile at this point

[Peter]

Cedric is a good guy. He will respond and do all he can. But he also will tell it how it is.

[mjq jazz bar]

I agree. I don't want to pester him anymore unless I have something constructive to offer. I just wanted to convey the community's disappointment to someone who's listening.

[mjq jazz bar]

Btw I see him answering others as we speak. Might be worth tweeting him if you have any good ideas.

[Dragon Light]

This is what I feared after 3m the climb is at snail's pace at the moment.
Unless there is some drastic change it wont go up much.

On a side note any rich kids on this forum?
Pledge some millions pls

[ys]

I doubt that they were aware actually. Maybe they were told a 2 million goal and saw that as their next challenge. Even the price of the new rewards made them react during the interview. It could explain why they took it easy?

Oh and i think the portuguese subtitles goal was another mistake, it literally has made NO difference so far.

That's exactly what I was questioning right after the announcement. To cover that 100 000 goal they would have needed 1250 new Portuguese speaking backers at $80.

Regarding the funding today. If I had their job, I would have at least one person working during the weekend. Just to keep an eye on things since KS doesn't take breaks during weekends.
When I got a sound production job with a short deadline I tried to get the best result within that timeframe/budget. So that meant a few 10/14-hour days (weekend) until things settled down. And that wasn't even close to a multimillion project.

By the way, I thought that they wanted to show kids that hard work is rewarding? ;)
https://translate.google.com/translate? ... edit-text=

I was also checking Project Eternity and differences are : more prepared in general, online activity, rewards, engaging fans so they pledge more, ...

Awesome Japan seem to listen though and gathered the right questions for Yu which is good. But an overwhelming majority of (new) backers sits at $29. There's a lot of potential money there but those people need a reason to pledge more. Maybe a PS4 disc version could change that? And we definitely need more outsiders. The fans likely did what they could and it's here marketing teams could make a difference.