Sony came to E3 with their big boy pants on this year. Announcement after announcement blew up on Twitter. One announcement, however, led to issues for Kickstarter – the long awaited revival of Shenmue 3.
Update: Shenmue 3 has been fully funded on Kickstarter, raising $2 million in less than nine hours. The campaign launched at 9:51pm EDT. Shenmue 3 is the fastest game to be funded $1 million dollars on Kickstarter. It’s also the fastest game to raise $2 million.
Original Story: The campaign was launched by none other than Yu Suzuki, creator of many Sega classics including Shenmue, who revealed the Kickstarter for Shenmue 3 on stage at the PlayStation 4 E3 2015 conference Monday night. Suzuki is hoping to raise $2 million within one month.
The Kickstarter page went down temporarily immediately following the announcement, and has experienced extreme fluctuation in accessibility.
“Shenmue 3 is the true sequel to the classic open world action RPG games, Shenmue and Shenmue 2. Created for modern platforms (PC and PlayStation 4) and built in Unreal 4, Shenmue 3 will continue the legacy of Shenmue,” the Kickstarter reads. “With your help, we can #SaveShenmue and rejoin Ryo and our favorite characters on this new adventure!”
Despite going live one hour ago, alongside the announcement, the Kickstarter has already raised more that $700,000 of its goal.
“Since the release of Shenmue 2, now 14 years ago, I have been greeted by the passionate outpouring of dedicated fans and Shenmue community members wherever I go. They all want to know one thing: “When will Shenmue 3 be coming out?” With the advent of games using Kickstarter during these past few years, the new and now frequent demand from the fans has been, “Do a Kickstarter for Shenmue 3!“
Shenmue 2 was released in 2001. “We can unfold the continuous story,” Suzuki said. “Shenmue 3 will be the story you have waited for. The fate of Shenmue is in your hands now.”
