The KS is a huge success and we shouldn't be discouraged

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The KS is a huge success and we shouldn't be discouraged

Postby Tomato Convenience Store » Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:25 pm

Hey y'all - I think it's time for some perspective for how successful this kickstarter has been, all things considered.

1) First off, against all odds we are finally getting Shenmue III! Holy shit, we've been waiting for this for 14 years! We've remained rabid fans for this entire time and many of you have been going nuts getting the word out, getting a social media presence, bombarding anyone you can to share your love of the game. This is easily the craziest gaming community (and I mean that in a good way, of course :-P). We were the fastest game to reach $1M and $2M!

2) The success of the kickstarter is even more impressive when you consider Shenmue III is only on two platforms. Mighty No. 9 is on ten platforms, and Bloodstained is on seven. That pretty significantly limits the amount of potential pledges you can get. If there was going to be an Xbone version of Shenmue III, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that pledges could be up around an extra 15-20% (meaning, we'd currently be at around $4.5M funding and 55K backers). Considering this, it's still very possible we end up getting more funding than Bloodstained to become the most funded kickstarter game ever. That's pretty fucking awesome!

3) The number of backers != total number of pre-orders or sales. The average gamer is not like "us". There are a bunch of people who are skeptical about kickstarter and really don't see the point of putting in $30 for a game two and a half years before release. I have a few friends who are Shenmue fans who were super pumped for the announcement but haven't yet backed the project, and probably won't, but they'll buy the game at release.

For me personally, this is the first game I backed on kickstarter. I'm a big Tim Schafer/Double Fine fan, but I didn't back their kickstarter and ended up buying Broken Age upon release. I didn't back Bloodstained or Mighty No. 9, but will probably get those when they come out, too. This will probably be the only game I back on kickstarter as well (unless Shenmue IV gets a kickstarter!).

4) I would argue that while the kickstarter announcement at E3 helped the overall numbers, it also made us reach a saturation point much sooner. I believe without the on stage announcement we would have overall similar numbers to what we have now (maybe slightly less, but not significantly), but the numbers would have increased more steadily. Remember, people are still able to remove their pledges, so even if they pledge during the super duper E3 hype, they're still able to view the project from a distance once the hype dies down, so they're not a victim of an impulse buy.

5) We're not even at the midway point of the Kickstarter. We still have the $30 on the 3rd campaign and are awaiting more reward tiers. Maybe we get a PS4 physical release and a Paypal option. It's fine if we don't hit $10M - they'll figure something out. The success of this campaign could help ease investor risk, so it's possible the money is covered elsewhere (a post KS paypal option probably covers the rest, honestly). I don't think, in the grand scheme of things, an expertly run kickstarter campaign makes a huge difference (and let's not turn this into a topic about "that"). Let's continue to do our best spread the word. Remember that Bloodstained received $1.5M in pledges the last two days, so don't be too discouraged that things have died down a bit (also see point #4 again!)

So considering all these points, I would argue that in the end I'll consider this to be the most successful video game kickstarter - even if we fall just short of Bloodstained (though I'm still optimistic we'll hit around $6M).

Positive vibes - let's get sweaty!
Last edited by Tomato Convenience Store on Sun Jun 28, 2015 6:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The KS is a huge success and we shouldn't be discouraged

Postby spinksy » Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:30 pm

It's nice to see a positive thread and I do agree.

It's just a shame the kickstarter isn't being handled better.

I also think only having the game on ps4 for console is obviously limiting it - although I definitely prefer it as a console exclusive.

I'll be really happy if we hit 5 million :-)

Also my only 2 mates that were going to back the kickstarter have both changed there minds and now won't - although I know they'll buy the game on release
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Re: The KS is a huge success and we shouldn't be discouraged

Postby shredingskin » Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:40 pm

I just think that the kickstarter could be summarized like this:

- Most gamers haven't played Shenmue or even know what Shenmue is.
- E3 was a great coverage in getting people's attention.
- The KS is handled pretty amateurishly.

But simply put, there are not many people that know/care about Shenmue, it's something we sometimes forget.
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Re: The KS is a huge success and we shouldn't be discouraged

Postby MiTT3NZ » Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:51 pm

I wouldn't call it a "huge success". "Sufficient" at best, imo. Sure, it's broken records, but that is due to the game's notoriety and Sony's limited involvement. Everything else has been a failure on many levels. Personally, I find the facts of this whole affair very discouraging, and the only positive we have is "Well at least Shenmue III's being made."

I know a lot of you would've taken absolutely anything, but I don't fall into that category, and the whole "It's this or nothing" bollocks doesn't fly with me.

Main problem I have though is the utter lack of common sense and insight shown by a lot of people involved - both inside and out.

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Re: The KS is a huge success and we shouldn't be discouraged

Postby drunkensailor » Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:53 pm

the game debuted live on e3 all over the world. had other game projects been given the same circumstances they would've had a way bigger start as well. what is troublesome now is that the ks hasn't just stalled. it's losing money actually

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Re: The KS is a huge success and we shouldn't be discouraged

Postby joka » Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:53 pm

The negativity is just frustration that it could've been done better.

I'm still just hyped its happening more than anything else :)

I'm sure the dust will settle after the KS campaign closes.

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Re: The KS is a huge success and we shouldn't be discouraged

Postby Tomato Convenience Store » Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:53 pm

shredingskin wrote: I just think that the kickstarter could be summarized like this:

- Most gamers haven't played Shenmue or even know what Shenmue is.
- E3 was a great coverage in getting people's attention.
- The KS is handled pretty amateurishly.

But simply put, there are not many people that know/care about Shenmue, it's something we sometimes forget.


I think there's been enough talk over the years of the Shenmue series that there are probably people who are curious to check it out when it's released, but not curious enough to back the kickstarter. I believe that we have the most variety of games that we've ever had (tons of experimental Indies, popular story driven games with minimal gameplay made by Telltale/Quantic Dream), where a game like Shenmue can probably be an easier sell than before.

And no, I don't think it'll become a multi-million seller, but if Shenmue III is a good game and receives good review scores I think it'll sell well enough to be a success.
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Re: The KS is a huge success and we shouldn't be discouraged

Postby Tomato Convenience Store » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:00 pm

drunkensailor wrote: the game debuted live on e3 all over the world. had other game projects been given the same circumstances they would've had a way bigger start as well. what is troublesome now is that the ks hasn't just stalled. it's losing money actually


Well one of my points is that it's possible we could have a similar (but realistically slightly less) amount of total funding without the E3 announcement, but it would be more spread out instead of being insanely front-loaded.
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Re: The KS is a huge success and we shouldn't be discouraged

Postby shredingskin » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:02 pm

I think that being "front loaded" is better, because most people don't pledge still they know the game is going to be made, also it raises the hype, and makes people think "wow, this game must be awesome".

Sadly they didn't ride the hype wave that good.
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Re: The KS is a huge success and we shouldn't be discouraged

Postby drunkensailor » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:07 pm

awesome japan did everything they could to kill that hype, as did sony

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Re: The KS is a huge success and we shouldn't be discouraged

Postby Kenny » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:08 pm

They could've announced they engineered unicorns and are giving them away for every person who pledges and you'd STILL have people complaining their unicorn isn't a perfect, glimmering shade of white like they think it's supposed to be.

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Re: The KS is a huge success and we shouldn't be discouraged

Postby Rikitatsu » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:12 pm

I think we need to look at this while noting that Shenmue's scope and targets are different from the other KS projects.
For example, for a 2D Platformer like Bloodstained, $5.5M is a huge success.

But for Shenmue which is an intricate open world franchise, having just $4M is not something special... Especially when considering the fact that Suzuki said he needs $10M to make the Shenmue 3 he wants to make, and the one people wanted to have.

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Re: The KS is a huge success and we shouldn't be discouraged

Postby johnvivant » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:15 pm

If paypal is added post kickstarter then the fan community can run its own campaign to cover any shortfall (i'm optimistic, but 10 mill is a big ask). this new campaign could coincide with the tweetathon every month and we could create a 'fund-o'-meter' telling us exactly how much is required to reach the 10 million. it might take a year or more - who knows - but its definitely possible for fans to generate the funds required to make the game what it deserves to be.

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Re: The KS is a huge success and we shouldn't be discouraged

Postby MiTT3NZ » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:18 pm

Exactly. Any amount of "3" even. £3, $30, €333. Could keep it goin til they just say "nah, we're good, it's in the bag."

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