Shenmue 3 was one of the biggest surprises of E3 2015. During Sony's press conference, it was revealed that the long-dormant cult classic would make a return thanks to Kickstarter — but only if it raised $2 million. Thankfully, the game has not only hit its funding goals, but fans raised the funds within just a few hours of the project's launch.
Of course, if fans have already offered up millions of dollars, why not go for a few more? Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki has stated that the only way to truly create the ideal open world is to raise $10 million — far more than the project originally asked for. Currently, the project is sitting at just over $3.6 million — that's already a ton of money, but Suzuki's still got a long ways to go before the project raises the "ideal" amount.
As if $10 million wasn't enough, now it seems that Suzuki and his team are pushing even further: the latest update to the Kickstarter page now features stretch goals all the way up to $11 million dollars.
At this point, it's pretty clear that the $2 million goal was really just to gauge fan interest. While it's entirely possible to create a game with such a budget, creating an in-depth, open-world action-adventure takes a lot more time and effort ... and that means a lot more money.
At the very least, the new goal does come with some impressive perks. As of this writing, the remaining stretch goals are as follows:
| • $4 million: Baisha Village expanded; mini-games x5. • $4.2 million: Baisha Village expanded; Infiltration mission. • $4.4 million: Baisha Village expanded; additional quest. • $4.6 million: Baisha Village expanded; Battle Event • $5 million: Baisha Village expanded, Character Perspective System • $5.1 million: Portuguese language option. • $6 million: Battle system expanded; advanced free battle. • $6.5 million: Battle system expanded; ragdoll reaction. • $7 million: Battle system expanded; AI battling. • $7.5 million: Battle system expanded; high ground battle system. • $8 million: Choubu area expanded; mini games x4. • $8.25 million: Choubu area expanded; betting games x4. • $8.5 million: Choubu area expanded; kung-fu mastery. • $9 million: Choubu area expanded; part-time job. • $10 million: Bailu village expanded; mini games x4. • $10.25 million: Bailu village expanded; betting games x4. • $10.5 million: Bailu village expanded; kung-fu mastery. • $11 million: Bailu village expanded; magic maze. |
While a few of these goals are pretty vague (what exactly is a "Character Perspective System" and what does it do?), it's nice that the developers are still pumping out incentives for fans to work toward, especially when it's working toward allowing more players to get in on the game. Then again, maybe it would have been better to be more honest about what the game's budget would be like from the get-go.
Either way, Shenmue 3 is coming: with the Kickstarter project funded, the game is expected to release around December 2017.
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