E3 has been quite amazing already and there are still a few days to go this week. Monday brought us the biggest bombs and none could be considered bigger than the reveal that Shenmue 3 was actually happening. The only stipulation given was that they needed to raise $2 million, which was done in no time, but many wondered just where the rest of the money would come from. Now, we have that answer.
The original Shenmue was one of the most costly games of all time, costing over $70 million to make over a span of five years. This is pretty incredibly to consider and is likely why we haven’t gotten a follow-up since Shenmue 2. $2 million seemed like nothing compared to this and like Bloodstained, Shenmue 3 has another backer.
Sony gave Yu Suzuki the opportunity to announce Shenmue 3 as happening and promote the Kickstarter campaign, but they aren’t stopping there. Sony instead will be helping to fund the game beyond Kickstarter as well, rather than just giving Suzuki a platform to promote the campaign.
According to Kotaku, Sony’s director of third party relations Gio Corsi spoke about this new partnership during a PlayStation Live event today.
“Sony and PlayStation is definitely a partner in this game and it’s going to be run through third-party production. We’re going to help Ys Net get the game done, we’re going to be partners on it the whole way, and really excited to see this thing come out in a couple of years.”
Shenmue 3’s Kickstarter campaign easily surpassed $2 million and is already at over $2.9 million as of the time of this writing. The question is, just how how will it go?
