You’d be forgiven for thinking Sony — a company which made more than a billion US dollars in profit last year — didn’t need to use crowdfunding sites. But it has done so with great success for Shenmue III.
The game, a sequel to the Dreamcast classic which appears on at least a dozen major “best games ever” lists, hit its $2 million target on Kickstarter in a matter of hours. It will now be released on PS4 and PC, though isn’t expected until the end of 2017.
The blurb for the game reads:
Where we left off… Ryo Hazuki has made his way to China in search of his father’s killer. There he meets a new travelling companion, Shenhua, and learns of a legend from her village that has foretold their path together.
The story continues as Ryo and Shenhua start off on a new journey that will take them farther into enemy territory, deeper into mystery, and ever closer to their destiny.
Will the mystery of the mirrors be revealed? How is Ryo’s father connected to all of this? Will Ryo track down the Chi You Men cartel and face Lan Di in a final showdown?
The full reasons the game went on Kickstarter have not been detailed, but it doesn’t seem unreasonable to speculate that director and producer Yu Suzuki was having a tough time selling his bosses on the idea and needed a way to prove demand.
Officially Suzuki says he wanted to crowdfund the game so that he could get more player involvement in developing the game. While the actual price of the game for pledgers is $20 for digital and $60 for physical copy, anyone who pledged at least $5 will be invited to take part in surveys and polls to help determine game features. Those who pledged $100 will get an advanced trial copy of the game.
There’ll also be a number of stretch goals, which are additional features that will be included if the total pledges reach higher target figures during the month. “Cinema shorts” of the first two games will be made if the total amount of pledges go over $2.5 million (already reached), with other possible inclusions including foreign language subtitles, a “rapport system”, a “skill tree system”, an expanded Baisha Village setting, and five mini games.
Suzuki has confirmed that Sega, which published the original games, has granted permission to use the Shenmue name.