Shenmue 3 achieved its $2 million Kickstarter goal just hours after the campaign launched. Fast-forward to July 17, the final day of its campaign, and Shenmue 3 has gone on to receive nearly triple the original goal in funding – and in the process breaking – a Kickstarter record.
Shenmue 3 is now the most funded game on Kickstarter, raising $5.6 million with about 11 hours left of the campaign as of the time of this writing. The previous record was set by Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night on June 11, which earned $5,545,991 in funding, according to The Verge.
Fans were surprised when Sony announced during its E3 keynote in June that not only was the Shenmue series alive, but that its third installment would be coming to the PlayStation 4. Soon after, Shenmue's creator Yu Suzuki appeared on stage to launch the game's Kickstarter campaign.
"You and I have had a shared dream for the past 14 years. Now it's time to make our dream of Shenmue 3 a reality," Suzuki said in a video posted to YouTube Thursday to mark the last 24 hours of the Kickstarter campaign.
Though Shenmue 3 quickly achieved its Kickstarter goal, the game may actually require a budget greater than the funds this crowdsourcing campaign will provide. Suzuki clarified that Sony and Shibuya Productions have invested in the project as well, in an update posted to the campaign's Kickstarter page on June 24. He also later said with $10 million in funds, Shenmue 3 "will truly have the features of an open world," during a Reddit AMA last month.
The first Shenmue launched in 1999 for the Sega Dreamcast and was followed by Shenmue 2, released for the Dreamcast in 2001 and the original Xbox in 2002. Shenmue 3 will be a continuation of these action RPG games featuring a new adventure for characters Ryo Hazuki and Shenhua.
Shenmue 3, which was built in Unreal 4, will be available for the PlayStation 4 and PC and is slated to be released in 2017.
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