According to the game's developers, a PlayStation 4 physical copy will be released for Shenmue 3 after being one of the most requested items for the crowdfunding campaign of the title on Kickstarter.
With the addition of the PlayStation 4 physical copy as an option, backers of the Shenmue 3 page that donate $60 or higher will have four choices on how to acquire the game, either as a digital copy for the PC or PlayStation 4 or as a physical copy for the PC or PlayStation 4.
Only one copy of the game will be sent to each backer, as the Kickstarter campaign moves closer to its end.
The Kickstarter campaign to source funding for Shenmue 3 was announced at the keynote presentation of Sony at the E3 conference. The campaign, which had a goal of raising $2 million, achieved the amount within just nine hours of the page being brought up. As of the time of writing, with 11 days to go, the total amount pledged has reached $4,340,631.
Upon easily achieving the original goal, Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki said that he was then looking to raise at least $10 million, to make Shenmue 3 truly open world.
The campaign states in its $5 million stretch goal that reaching the milestone in funding will introduce a character perspective system to Shenmue 3, which Suzuki said is something that he has always wanted to include in the game. Double that amount, along with support from Sony and additional funding from other sources, could transform Shenmue 3 into the open world that Suzuki always wanted to do with the title.
It could prove to be difficult to reach that $10 million mark in funding. With 11 days to go, chances are that the campaign will not be able to raise that amount.
Shenmue 3 appeals to a niche of players, and as such the $10 million target may be out of reach. However, if Suzuki would announce that the game would also be released to the Xbox One, it could give the campaign a much-needed boost to hit the mark.
The first Shenmue was released for the Dreamcast in 1999 and had a production budget of $47 million. Shenmue 2 was released in 2001 for the Dreamcast and Xbox.
