Yu Suzuki Addresses Shenmue 3 Funding: ‘Sony & Shibuya Aren’t Seeing a Cent of Your Kickstarter Dollars’

Following the successful launch of Shenmue 3’s Kickstarter campaign last week, Gio Corsi, Director of Third Party Production & Developer Relations for PlayStation, revealed that Sony partnered with Ys Net to make the game a reality. “We’re going to get the game done,” he said. “We’re going to be partners the whole way, and we’re really excited to see this thing come out in a couple of years.”

This produced many questions from fans about the budget and outside funding sources, prompting creator Yu Suzuki to update the Kickstarter page with an explanation.

Knowing that Kickstarter would allow him to get Shenmue 3 started, Suzuki adds that he also knew he’d have to “look to more traditional means to obtain all the funds that would be needed to create the game I had envisioned.”

Suzuki continues:

Sony and Shibuya Productions have been wonderful partners because they believe in Shenmue and want to see the best for the fans and the game. Their investment in (and support of) Shenmue have helped to realize a sequel that will stand proud with its predecessors.

While it is not business practice to discuss the specific details of such arrangements, I can say that with their assistance on the production and marketing end, and in Sony’s case with some publishing support as well, Ys Net is able to use more of the money we collect through Kickstarter purely for Shenmue 3’s development. It is also important to note that your funds are going strictly to Ys Net for development of Shenmue 3 – Sony and Shibuya Productions are not seeing a cent of your Kickstarter dollars.

Sitting at $3.6 million with 22 days to go, if Shenmue 3 reaches $5 million, Suzuki says, “There will be an all new gameplay feature I would be excited to be able to add to the Shenmue legacy.” At $10 million, “A much larger, completely open world will be yours to explore.”

“Even if these Stretch Goals are not reached,” he adds, “Shenmue 3 will already be a sequel true to its name, and one we can all be proud of. It is my hope though, that together we can make this Shenmue just as revolutionary as the first two were.”

In the future, Suzuki says they hope to be as open as possible when it comes to Shenmue 3’s development.

[Source: Kickstarter]

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