Shenmue III has had controversy surrounding it, to say the least. This year’s E3 being the year of the closure, we saw a Final Fantasy 7 remake, The Last Guardians return, and somewhere out of left field Shenmue III managed to make it onto the stage.
After 15 years of waiting, fans will finally have the excellent third chapter in the game. At least that’s the hope. Yu Suzuki was talking to Euro Gamer, and they just don’t have the kind of money they want to make the game as beautiful as they could. Focusing more on Ryo’s story then on the graphics.
Yu Suzuki admits to Euro Gamer that the game isn’t only being backed by Kickstarter. “There’s also funding from Sony and Shibuya Productions. Before we started Kickstarter, we had goals set around the budget – so if we only got $6 million, we’d create Shenmue 3 based upon what we could do with that $6 million.”
But with all of this in mind, we have to remember that the original Shenmue, which is still considered a fantastic game, had $70 million poured into it. And with inflation? you’re looking at $99 million to create one game.
Yu Suzuki did state that no matter how much money they raise, Shenmue III will still be made. You can read the full interview here.