‘Shenmue 3’ crowd funding campaign off to roaring start

When Yu Suzuki took to the stage at Sony's E3 event to announce he was starting a Kickstarter campaign to fund Shenmue 3, there was little doubt that he would reach his goal. Even if that goal was $2 million.

Such was the reaction that greeted his initial video on the possibility of resurrecting Shenmue after a 14-year absence, and his subsequent appearance on stage that its success was almost a foregone conclusion. When he told the audience “the fate of Shenmue is in your hands now”, they listened. And then they got their Paypal details and signed up to back the campaign.

At the last count, the campaign had passed $1.8 million in funding, only seven hour into it. The majority of the campaign’s supporters were opting for the digital download of the game, which will come to PlayStation 4 and PC, but there were some high spenders that chose to invest $10,000 each for perks that ranged from buying a spot at a dinner with Suzuki and scripts from Shenmue 1 and 2, to the chance to own the original jacket worn by Masaya Matsukaze for the Shenmue press events 14 years ago.

More than 22,000 fans have so far pledged money to get Shenmue 3 made, which will see Ryo Hazuki’s story finally completed.

“If Shenmue 3 was going to get made, I wanted to make it with the fans. Through Kickstarter, I knew that could happen, Suzuki wrote on the campaign page.

Going by the reaction to the campaign, you can pencil Shenmue 3 in for December 2017 release.