It seems that fans will have to wait a few more months to get their hands on the highly anticipated Shenmue 3. According to a new update on the game’s Kickstarter page, Shenmue 3 has officially been delayed from August to November 19, 2019. Not the worst delay in the history of video games, but for one so long in the making it’s unfortunate. The reasons given are pretty standard fare for an announcement like this, explaining that the team needs more time to wrap things up.
“Whilst almost ready, the game simply needs a little more refinement before being truly finished,” the update explains. “We feel that the extra time we have will help us deliver the true Shenmue experience players around the world deserve! We thank you for your patience and understanding.” The update is signed “Yu Suzuki & Deep Silver.”
Shenmue 3 was one of those pie-in-the-sky sort of games. Where fans were dying to have it made, but publishers mostly balked. This is because the last two games were extremely massive development projects, resulting in huge budgets that never translated to equally large sales. But the games were revolutionary in many ways, paving the way for the open world adventures we enjoy today. In the end, the Kickstarter campaign raised over $6 million from more than 69,000 backers. More has been raised after the fact, hitting many stretch goals for the project.
Barring another delay those fans and more will be able to enjoy Shenmue 3 when it arrives on PS4 and PC on November 19th, 2019.
