Shenmue is one of the last great franchise legacies of Sega's heritage as a console maker and first-party software developer. Originally envisioned as a trilogy by creator Yu Suzuki, it almost seems destined to be incomplete as a series... but a producer at Sega indicated a scenario in which a third game could be made.
Speaking to the Xbox 360 edition of Famitsu found by Eurogamer [thanks Destructoid], the producer indicated that Sega is reluctant to create a third Shenmue because the first two games weren't profitable. He did note, however, that there are many fans of Shenmue within Sega and said that if a first-party publisher was willing to finance the game, Sega would make it in exchange for platform exclusivity.
We'd like to think this was a possibility, but after the poor showing of Shenmue II on the Xbox, we couldn't see Microsoft ponying up for the third game. Paying for an unprofitable franchise doesn't seem like Nintendo's style, and Sony tends to concentrate their development monies on their own efforts. Considering that it has been over eight years since Shenmue II originally released on Dreamcast, any sequel at this point seems unlikely.
7 Comments
February 4, 2010
well seeing as Yakuza keeps getting released and thats pretty much running off od old shenmue tech i dont see why they cant just finish the trilogy....Sega and Microsoft seem to have ended their love afair since XBOX(original) the only ones i can seriously see doing this is Sony....not likely, but heres hoping.
February 4, 2010
My wife and I would love to see Shenmue 3. Hell we even imported the european version of Shenmue 2 for dreamcast, and then bought an xbox just to play it again. Microsoft should do it since Yakuza is PS3 exclusive.
February 5, 2010
Yakuza might have some functional similarities to Shenmue, but the former been better received in Japan and they're already working on a fourth official entry. It's not as simple to say, “Well, they're similar, how hard could it be?” - making a new Shenmue would probably cost at least $10 million, and that's a lot of scratch for something perceived to have niche appeal.
February 5, 2010
I understand that there would be an investmentto be made, I was saying that Yakuza although popular in japan has been a very niche market in the west...and that putting it lightly, yet it has been released continously. With that in mind and the fact that the engine is already made, menas that the ground work is already done, The fan base, albeit small, seems to have been growing over the last decade for shenmue,I honestly think the hardest thing here would the marketing dollars...not so much the work involved to bring this game out. The first shenmue sold over one million copies on Dreamcast, what killed it was the budget they had spent on a game engine that was for its time revolutionary. Shenmue 2 was released on XBOX in the states when the xbox was only known for halo, and overseas it was released for dreamcast which had already been declared dead by that point.... Thats why ithink 2 did so poorly...Sega has used the shenmue engine for the Yakuza franchise, they are familiar with it, and i feel that they would sell more copies of shenmue 3 in the west than they have Yakuza....yes clearly it would be purely fan service, but what better way to create more brand loyalty for a console or company, and who doesnt want to finally kick Lan Di's A** for what he did to Ryo? lol
February 5, 2010
They probably could recycle some code from Yakuza, but they'd still have to make all new assets (environments, character, models, voices, etc.) and a game as big as Shenmue, it's not a trivial investment, even if they made it for the Wii.
Sega tends to be a bit myopic, like many Japanese game companies – Yakuza is successful in Japan so that's probably all that really matters to them, nevermind that it doesn't have a huge appeal outside of the country. Look, I'd love to see a new Shenmue, but I just don't have any faith one is coming at this point to to extenuating circumstances.
February 9, 2010
I agree completely, its something i dont think will happen in the near future, and understand there is more to it than just re-skinning Yakuza, I just think its at least feasable as a profitable investment if the venture was made by SEGA and a console manufacturer...I think it can make money and create fan loyalty, and IMO Sony can stand to reel in those die hard SEGA/Shenmue fanboys to buy a PS3 if they dont already own one.
February 12, 2010
I think that the future of Shenmue depends a lot on Heavy Rain. If Heavy Rain does well, then that will show that there is still a market for that kind of game, and Shenmue III might finally get the financial backing for production.
I agree with Chosenoneknuckles about needing to re-release Shenmue 1 and 2 prior to Shenmue 3, but with digital distribution that shouldn't be much of an issue.
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