The Shenmue 3 Kickstarter: Was It Good or Bad?

Many who are here reading this have probably heard about Shenmue 3 and it’s kickstarter. The result of Shenmue 3 and its kickstarter may be either good or bad. Who knows, it could even be both.

[Nonscpo]

Good idea, poor execution!

[freshslicepizza]

"the fate of shenmue is in your hands now"

that is what was said during the e3 trailer.

almost 2 years ago sony was trying to get the game.

http://www.nowgamer.com/son...

so i guess the question is why did sony need it to be a kickstarter project before they committed to it? they have a pub fund to help smaller projects,

http://www.forbes.com/sites...

so why ask fans to pay and not comment about their own end of support right away?

it all strikes me as abusing the kickstarter program because sony was going to help fund the project all along.

[Serg]

*Sigh*

http://www.neogaf.com/forum...

[jb227]

Ok let's break this down, yes Sony is helping, yes Kickstarter is a great gauge for public interest....why not marry the two?

If you see a company willing to match anyone's donation for a charity, do you call that company "abusive" for doing so? It's literally the exact same principle. Companies have a limited budget that is planned to the t, would you rather have Sony foot the whole bill & for Shenmue 3 to only end up being half the game that was envisioned, and consequently for the game to be exclusive as a result, Suzuki's feelings on the matter be damned? Are these invisible & illogical "principles" more important than honest to goodness gaming developed exactly as it's creators intended, delivered to you at almost half the cost what your pay for any other title of its caliber? You are going to have to try harder if you want to come up with legitimate reasons as to why any aspect of this was "abusive".

Why ask fans to pay for a title they've waited on for a decade or so? Guess they should give it out for free? Ultimately we are paying 40 dollars early for a game that would otherwise be 60 later & no ones twisting our arms to do so, so maybe you shouldn't speak for all of the fans that made this one of the most successful kick starters in history, maybe let them fight their own battles where they see fit.

[BeastOfSoda]

Fun fact: Shenmue 3 is *still* going to be half the game that was envisioned, apparently. That, or the unfunded parts will end up as DLC.

Mind, I'm more than happy to see this remake in the works, but it could have been handled differently (for example by setting one or two goals, and not by asking 100'000$ for SUBTITLES).

[Jls1]

good because the game is coming.

[jb227]

Exactly...it achieved its goal because people wanted it, so was it a successful kick starter? Yes. Does anyone's opinion on the deal matter in the slightest? Not a bit. The game will exist where otherwise it wouldn't have & everyone who donated to the kick starter will get a full retail title for almost half the price....don't see how anyone could spin this to make it a bad thing, but such is the internet. We finally see something absolutely pro consumer that puts the power into our hands & there's still a vocal minority looking for a way to spin it into a negative. Not possible, game will exist where it otherwise wouldn't have & it's cheap for those who care enough to support it, end of story.

I guess people would rather have had someone foot the bill, turn it into a free to play title that's broken at launch, micro trans the hell out of us gamers, extort us for a preorder that gives us a cool moleskin leather jacket skin, and bury the ending behind paid dlc....that would've absolutely been the better move. Still haven't heard a single legitimate argument against this method & I'd love to hear one if it exists out there.

[Majin-vegeta]

It was good....until certain sites started trying to smear the campaign.

[remixx116]

Exactly this.

[TheNemesis501]

it was good, we get a new game we've been asking for and thats good, the only bad is that it took so long to get here.

[Lenns]

What's the difference between pre order and kickstarting a game?

[Yetter]

no guarantees you're gonna get anything when you pledge to a kickstarter. A preorder is a purchase which me there is some legal obligation for the seller to provide you with a product at some point. pledging to a kickstarter is a donation and the developers have no obligation to deliver on their promises other then PR fallout

[NobodyEpic]

Microsoft should've sponsored it instead of Sony because they had it on their console first.

[viperman240]

Thats a funny way of spelling Sega.

[Rimeskeem]

MS owned Sega?

this is first for me

[MasterCornholio]

I really don't understand why people never do any research before making those claims.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/...

All it took was a simple google and I've managed to find out the platforms for the first Shenmue game. It was only available on the Dreamcast.

[nowitzki2004]

MS owned Sega? Where was I?

Oh wait its you, the troll of PS articles.... Lets sweep you under that bridge... Shoo dirty Troll Shoo!!

[vanity29]

fans beg for the game and happily fund it, then out of nowhere comes an agenda to bash the funding and sony. That was ridiculous.

I say it was good since fans still funded anyway.

[jb227]

Yup, everyone else's "opinions" don't matter one iota. I have yet to see a single Shenmue fan bash anything about this, all of the people criticizing it obviously have hidden agendas & I highly doubt any of them would've played the game regardless of its distribution method.

[memots]

they are the same calling it a "niche" game now.
This game was and is huge and has a strong cult following. I hate this fanboy fud going on.

[nowitzki2004]

Dont worry MS taking notice... Soon they will be excited about a Kickstarter for an X1 game.... Its coming dont worry.

[Bismarn]

Hey all you that funded the kickstarter and squee'd at the Sony conference! How many of you actually played Shenmue 2?

Put your hands down liar.

[NobodyEpic]

Lol so true.

So many fake fans out there hyping a game they never played before.

[Rimeskeem]

Isnt that like almost every game that doesnt have a demo or anything before it comes out?

Your comment is vague, people hype of all kinds of things they have never played before

[tiffac008]

I guess that would be better than a none fans smearing the campaign and suddenly screaming ethics because it ain't going to their preferred console.

[vanity29]

Didnt stop people from getting the witcher. Which was garbage and over hyped.

[Aenea]

Damn it! I've been playing garbage for quite some time then and enjoyed it...

[tiffac008]

You know what they say one man's trash is another man's gold/treasure. lol!

[poor_cus_of_games]

I did. On the original xbox. What's your point?

[SegaGamer]

Why would you even assume that ? of course people that funded the game have played Shenmue 2. Guess what ? i bet they played Shenmue 1 too.

[massapeal79]

It a good thing because everybody ben waiting for thing game for years

[ChrisW]

Doing a kickstarter with Sony's backing is like donating money to a billionaire to open a new restaurant.

It only would have been a good idea if the developer, Yu Suzuki, were to remain independent and publish the game as an Indy Developer... Which would be much more awesome than people realize!!!

[Aenea]

Which is the case right now...

[madjedi]

It is like we haven't been hearing all of the last gen about skyrocketing development budgets and how expensive gen 7 and 8 games are vs previous generations.

[ssj3jp]

The game should have done much better on Kickstarter considering how well it did in the first 24 hrs. Bloodstained did a much better job at promoting itself through social sites & with better stretch goals.

[madjedi]

Bloodstained also didn't have a significant media agenda declaring it as a scam, wrong or a waste of money ect, encouraging people to not support it through fud.

[madjedi]

I really have to wonder if a ms did the same to another classic franchise and made it exclusive to their console would we still get the same outrage from the press.