Yu Suzuki pledges to try to make Shenmue 4 via in-game letter to fans

Designer says he will “never give up” on ambition to finish the story.

[IRetrouk]

I assumed the third game finished the story, guess he has more than just a third game planned.

[nowitzki2004]

This mans career just beginning lol

[WickedLester]

He needs to partner with the creators of the Yakuza series. That's the team to take the Shenmue story to the next level.

[IRetrouk]

🤣 Seems like it

[2BlackBelt]

The story as it stands will probably finish fully at around Shenmue 5 or 6.

Shenmue 3 is around 40% in the story so far.

[GtPawnSacrifices]

I remember reading (back in 1998) that it was originally going to have 9 titles or something.
Sega were changing things from the start & condensed it right down.
Either way, it has a great story. Just wanna finish Jedi first :p

[Jinryo]

As the article says: "In a 2015 AMA, Suzuki said he would like to complete 11 story chapters across at least five games."

[CDbiggen]

Love it, hope he can pull it off.

[Dark-soul]

Wait so story not finished in 3???? Motherfu¥#r !!!

[Chocoburger]

This is very old information, like 19 years old or more.
The series was always planned to be 5-6 games, we've always known this.
He's been saying for the past 2 years that Shenmue 3 is not the conclusion, just to clarify to avoid comments like the one you just made.
Shenmue 4 shouldn't require an 18 year wait.

[Dark-soul]

I played both games and original on dream cast and always thought it supposed to be a trilogy!

[Dark_Overlord]

Good luck kickstarting it, you screwed way too many people due to pure greed.

[solideagle]

can you please explain what is that greed? I am not sure I have followed shenmue III related news lately

[Brave_Losers_Unite]

Instead of releasing it on Steam as promised in the kick starter campaign goals that has been funded for it to release on steam, the devs took a big chunk of money to release it on Epic Store exclusively. Many PC gamers hate Epic Store because of these practices. People feel that they have been screwed over and the devs were heavily resisting refunds

[solideagle]

@Brave
Thank you for explanation.

Isn't epic store a free launcher just like steam? can they not install it?
How is PC gamers getting screwed when they are getting exactly the same game?

I read somewhere that steam takes 30% from devs and Epic is only taking 20%, so I think devs deserve better. All in my humble opinion :)

[MadLad]

Console manufacturers and retail stores take a similar cut to Steam.

Unless you 100% buy from Epic, then your last response is pretty hypocritical.

[Dark_Overlord]

As explained there's the Epic Store exclusivity change (which they slyly did 3.5 years after the initial funding), then there's also the backers getting the most basic version for the highest price. Backers were told they were not allowed the pre-order DLC (despite the fact they were the earliest purchasers of the game) then there's all the different versions available, all with extra's here and there that backers have been told 'no' to. I can go to my local game shop pay half the price of what I paid on KS and get the pre-order DLC and a Steelbook.

[NapalmSanctuary]

@Solid It doesn't matter. They received money based on the promise of the game releasing on steam, specifically. What makes it worse is that they initially refused refunds for those steam keys when they switched to epic.

[Chocoburger]

What people aren't telling you is that the money YsNet got from going Epic Game Store exclusive was the opportunity to delay the game one final time and polish it.

The release date was set for August 2019, but the game was in no shape to be sold back then, however they had run out of money. The only option was to take a pay out from Epic to push the game back by an additional 3 months in order to polish the game.

Its an unfortunate situation to be in. Release an unpolished game (pissing everyone off), or "sell your soul" to Epic and delay the game but release it in a much better state (pissing everyone off). I wish it didn't have to come down to that scenario, but it did, and Yu Suzuki had to make a choice. Even though I wish the game had come out on Steam, ultimately he made the right choice.

If Shenmue 3 came out in August (due to lack of funding), it would have infuriated everyone, due to lack of quality control. This is what people aren't telling you of course. Its manipulation to make you think that the devs took a big time pay out because of "greed." They don't want you to know the whole story, so that you can join them on the hate-train for this game.

[Shikoku]

Im down to back shenmue 4 put the kick start out

[Artemidorus]

I seem to remember years ago he wanted to make like 8 of these?

[TheGamez100]

Hope the game does well enough for more games in the series.

[Max_Eckhardt]

It’s always been 5 games. This is not new news :)

[bluefox755]

Cool, seems to have a devoted following, so hopefully he gets the backing.

[2BlackBelt]

Game will sell enough units, continuing through the xmas period and new year.

The demand for Shenmue 4 is more than ever after the ending of Shenmue 3.

[HighPlayer28]

Hope Sega can take over the next series so Xbox can get these games on time instead of later.

[Juusterey]

Hopefully without any shady shit this time