I really don't get why Sony it's afraid of this. Yes it was a commercial failure back then, but there's many conditions related to it.
To be honest, with all the promotion Sony could give this game, I can't see how it wouldn't be a success. Would be a 10 (lets say 15 in case Sony gave 5 to Yu in a 10M kickstarter scenario) more risky than The Order? Or Beyond Two Souls? And are those games cheaper than a 10-15M game?
Do they really think Shenmue won't sell at least same as Infamous SS?
Come on Sony...
Also they mess it up by saying they were helping funding the game. Many people were expecting to see the outcome of the first hours/days to invest or not. Soon as they heard sony's words, they thought this was a Bloodstained situation (While it seems it's not)
It sort of is similar to bloodstained. In the first place the way this kind of funding works is that one source forks in money provisional that you can provide the rest of the budget. Bloodstained asked for 500k and used additional KS funds to expand the funding. This Kickstarter is similar in that Yu Suzuki is funding part of the development essentially out of his own pocket and some other investors that have requested to remain anonymous, this funding is probably provisional that Yu can find the rest of the money himself. When arrangements like this arise the other parties have a fixed contribution into the project, imagine I say 'OK I will give you $X if you can raise the rest of the budget' now, Yu Suzuki reckons he can make the game with his extra finding and $2m. But he knows that the more money he can raise, the more he can do. So like bloodstained he is trying to raise more money to improve the game. Because the scope of his game is greater than bloodstained. And his external backing probably lower, he needs to collect more money. The funding amount matters in both cases because of the same reason, you get a better game. Yu seems to have hired the wrong company to run his campaign however which is unfortunate.
This brings me to point number 2, why is Sony not footing the bill and why KS is necessary.
For Sony to invest in the funding of the game, extensive internal thumb-twiddling must be performed until Sony maybe doesn't fund it. But some SCEI executives see value on it as something that they can support for good publicity. They offered them exposure and some development support that could be anything really, the deal isn't finalised yet I guess, but aren't going to balloon the game on its own as it would require extensive budgeting meetings and paperwork that Yu didn't want to put up with. It would also come with strings attached like any first party project which would mean that Yu wouldn't get to make the game for the fans that he wanted which is what he feared.
Now, with such strong fan demand why would Sony execs probably not fund it in the end. We can look back to Bloodstained for that answer again. Koch media ends up with the IP there, why? Because a lot of publishers, unless you are a cash cow brand, don't like to put much money in properties they don't own as it increases their risk substantially. If you own the IP you can profit from it in the long run through long term investment or selling it. Yu's problem and part of the reason why no-one has taken him up with funding the game besides his fans is because he doesn't own the IP to offer on the table. SEGA is licensing it, so the publisher is asked to fund something owned by SEGA where they don't contribute money to, a SEGA co-production might be more appealing, but SEGA wasn't having it probably so that's that. Then if you think about it, a direct sequel to a beloved IP which was popular but has a low audience for today and has been hibernating for 14 years is not very appealing to the sane investor. Bloodstained even as a new IP is more appealing because it's accessible, it appeals to a known audience they can gauge through KS and they get to rip them a new one later however they please owning the IP and all. Going back to Sony, these days they primarily only deal with games developed internally or that they fully own. They are not risk averse like SEGA is (by necessity) but they are a business, and to them it doesn't fit their model, so Yu would either have to compromise and make the Shenmue reboot with machine guns, somehow get SEGA to give up the IP, both of which he probably tried and failed for years. To avoid that, he decided to go through with KS where Sony offered to support him as long as they don't have to do anything that would go through first party. (producing the game)
I do not claim to have any insider knowledge in this situation and maybe they will clarify soon, this is just my reading from what has been said and my experience. I could be completely wrong.
What this means is fans get the game they want, (provided they fork the dosh) Sony gets the publicity, Yu's backers get some money back which they aren't forced to disclose, Yu gets to make the game he wants, but has to deliver it. Here is where the KS magic happens. Yu has to make this work, he has to make this thing, and we need to trust he will. This is a tall order for most people, especially those who don't care about a sequel to a dead IP. But it is the only path we end up with a Shenmue III we possibly want without Yu being in his 80s.
Given this is a do or die, I expect Yu to do whatever it takes to deliver this even if he has to take loans from Yakuza.
Edit: I just wanted to put this rant out for the last time so people stop asking/I don't have to do it again/can link it. I apologise for the long post.
I don't think it's run badly per se, but they likely don't have the experience or manpower to handle the campaign as well as those who have done it before. Other than those who have handled high profile Kickstarters already, I don't think it's reasonable to expect the same sort of management from first timers. I'm pretty sure something like this must be absolutely overwhelming to be in charge of, perhaps even moreso than any other "revival" Kickstarter before it.
Well, Yu hired them to run his campaign. On their site they claim to be experts in running Kickstarters. Of course, running a KS like this is overwhelming even for the best of companies, I criticised the Bloodstained KS for failing to prepare adequately in advance as well, the difference is pretty stark however and I would blame the Shenmue team for not being prepared a lot more because a) I actually care about the success of the campaign beyond my hobby of watching numbers going up b) They should have known better. c) They are failing at basic things. Of course they are also at a disadvantage. They had to be quiet to keep the surprise which meant moving in the shadows. They are based in Japan, the bloodstained team was chosen to better appeal to a worldwide audience. Etc. I don't want to keep the negativity up so I'll drop this and see what they do going forward.
Edit: The more I think about it I think I'm being overly unfair and not giving them enough credit perhaps. Probably because I actually care about this project.
