Shenmue III sales flopped

Not surprised, the game felt like it was in development for forever. When the game finally came out it looked and played like it needed another 4 years of development. I knew the moment the main character looked and talked like the slow guy who used to bag my groceries at Kroger it was in trouble.
 
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Mista said:
Whoever thought Shenmue 3 was going to sell well should take his head outta his arse
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Me and a lot of fans had assumed the old ones didn't sell because of the platforms they were on. Shenmue III is on PS4 and PC, which are popular platforms. And at least conceptually, the game was supposed to get marketing support from Sony and Epic, outside of publishing by Deep Silver.

But, I think at the end the game turned out not good enough. And, I'm not talking just about graphics and the outdated animations. Even for fans, the game was largely underwhelming, the story was underwhelming. The team made the wrong decisions. They sacrificed the wrong things in designing the game.. and as the launch date was approaching, the momentum was fading.

It could have been a huge game, but Yu's team made the wrong choices imo. I don't know who's to blame for that. We're certainly not gonna get more games from this franchise. Which is a pity..
 
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Did Tim Sweeney really think he would gain a bigger EGS marked share by paying for Shenmue 3 exclusivity? Lol.
 
Sophist said:
An indelible stain on Yu Suzuki's legacy; Shenmue 3 will be remembered as his one-too-many game.
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Disagree. As usual most of these negative reactions are from people that never even played it joining in on the hater parade. The game still has a 70 on metacritic (8 user score) and overall the fans mostly like it, hardly a stain. I don't think the game was perfect, but if the saga ends here I'm glad we at least had one more trip into Yu's Shenmue world.

As far as this being some kind of scam, I don't know what people expected. It's obvious a lot of work went into this, and it's still a 30+ hour game, made on a budget that's a fraction of what it costs to make a AAA game these days.
 
That's unfortunate but not surprising. It just wasn't getting very good reception, and both the gameplay and the graphics seemed badly outdated (at least to me, although admittedly I'm not a Shenmue fan). It's too bad for the developer and all the people who worked hard to get it out.
 
Game looked like it needed at least another 6 months to a year in the oven. Animations looks like it was really a dreamcast game, and the graphics could've been better since the game isn't some insanely huge world. I just think that people was hype to see it return but didn't really have interest in purchasing the game.
 
Ten_Fold said:
Game looked like it needed at least another 6 months to a year in the oven. Animations looks like it was really a dreamcast game, and the graphics could've been better since the game isn't some insanely huge world. I just think that people was hype to see it return but didn't really have interest in purchasing the game.
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And this game was somehow made with Unreal 4.

Shenmue is one of those niche games with online gamers drooling over it. Yet online presence doesn't equate to sales.

It's like seeing people and websites all say Bloodborne is an awesome game, yet it only sold about 2 million copies.... the same amount as Knack.
 
I love Shenmue and I was planning to be there day 1 but they decided to go for the EGS strategy.

I'm glad Suzuki made some money (I hope he reinvests it into the 4th game) and I will get it once it comes out on Steam... Unless it comes out on Plus first.

I hope Shenmue has a place in today's gaming landscape. They need to refresh the formula, though.

Still, one more community loved dev who thinks they can have success without it's publisher. It seems only IGA has really made it so far.
 
mistake 1: Epic exclusivity when people felt betrayed after they promised Steam keys...

mistake 2: make it console exclusive to the PS4 when the second one was only on Dreamcast and Xbox, and in the US it was only on Xbox.
 
01011001 said:
mistake 1: Epic exclusivity when people felt betrayed after they promised Steam keys...

mistake 2: make it console exclusive to the PS4 when the second one was only on Dreamcast and Xbox, and in the US it was only on Xbox.
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mistake 3: Just before release, Suzuki doing interview rounds saying how he needs another 4-5 games to round up the story. Literally EVERYONE wanted a Shenmue 3 to conclude the story and cliffhanger of S2. Instead we got another chapter that goes nowhere. If this game actually had a conclusion, it would off been along awaited trilogy end and go out in style even though the dated mechanics and graphics.
 
Didn't even know it released to be honest.

Last I heard of this game was the epic games store exclusivity controversy a few months ago.
 
I haven't played this game, but one common criticism I see about it coming from fans like Joe from Game Sack is how inconsequential the story feels. That's such a huge waste, fans have been waiting for this game forever and to deliver a filler episode when it comes out? You don't do that. I get that a lot of the Shenmue appeal is the menial side of it, just establishing a routine and not going full anime about it. I think they overdid it though, it's like Chrono Trigger 2 comes out and instead of being about Lavos returning, it's about Lucca needing new glasses.
 
AeonGaidenRaiden said:
mistake 3: Just before release, Suzuki doing interview rounds saying how he needs another 4-5 games to round up the story. Literally EVERYONE wanted a Shenmue 3 to conclude the story and cliffhanger of S2. Instead we got another chapter that goes nowhere. If this game actually had a conclusion, it would off been along awaited trilogy end and go out in style even though the dated mechanics and graphics.
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Wasn't Shenmue originally planned to have 5 games?
 
Given the uproar over Epic exclusivity, you would think this game had a rather large fan base. Just goes to show, small dogs bark the loudest. Yakuza series does this sort of thing so much better. I'm just sort of annoyed that this piece of shit got three fucking games while some of my favorite games from yesteryear can't even get a bare bones remaster. Looking at you handheld Castlevania games.
 
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sponk said:
Shenmue was always shit. The first and second game are being remembered so fondly, because they had soul and were among the first games to offer an open world experience. The core gameplay, on the other hand, was always shit.
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Agreed. I returned the first one the same day I bought it and got Skies of Arcadia instead. Best decision I've ever made.
 
Maybe It's Medicine? said:
Given the uproar over Epic exclusivity, you would think this game had a rather large fan base. Just goes to show, small dogs bark the loudest. Yakuza series does this sort of thing so much better. I'm just sort of annoyed that this piece of shit got three fucking games while some of my favorite games from yesteryear can't even get a bare bones remaster. Looking at you handheld Castlevania games.
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The uproar over EGS was not coming from Shenmue fans.
EGS uproar against everything EGS related is a phenomenon of its own.
 
AeonGaidenRaiden said:
mistake 3: Just before release, Suzuki doing interview rounds saying how he needs another 4-5 games to round up the story. Literally EVERYONE wanted a Shenmue 3 to conclude the story and cliffhanger of S2. Instead we got another chapter that goes nowhere. If this game actually had a conclusion, it would off been along awaited trilogy end and go out in style even though the dated mechanics and graphics.
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When Shenmue II came out he made it clear that the story had many many chapters left. Maybe with a lot more Kickstarter funding instead of console warring drama ("KS is a scam, Sony is paying for it!" etc...), but even then it was quite clear that closing the story in a single game would have been super shit.
 
brap said:
To the surprise of nobody
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Savage as always! But the truth hurts.

I liked Shenmue back in the day. But this is like going back 20 years in gaming but with almost no benefits of these 20 years of advancement... The thing gotta stuck in time and was stubborn of changing. Not surprised at all.

I love the series, but don't count on me for Shenmue 4 if they keep it up stuck in the Dreamcast era.
 
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I think Yu realy underestimated the effect of changing the launcher.

It tells us that he should be a very reasonable man who doesn't visit the gaming forums too much.
 
Well. I don't want to buy a Sega game on PlayStation. And I don't want to buy PC games on the Epic game store.

Their own fault.

1. Because Sony killed Sega.
2. I want less launchers on PC not more.
(Thank God I got BL3 for free 5times)
 
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I get that the director originally wanted the story to have more episodes than three, and maybe that was feasible back in the days when his star was still hanging on in there, the series was still relevant and his name could maybe drum up interest.

But many many years later when you've burned through the atmosphere and the only peeps holding a flame for your games are a relatively small group of hardcore fans, the very same fans who just threw you a lifeline....then maybe it's time to scale down your grand vision and advance the story accordingly.

I mean, unless this thing goes the way of Star Citizen with mega fans willing to fund you for all eternity (Unlikely), then there's a very good chance that you've just 'Half Lifed' the fans who have fed and clothed you for the past several years, Mr Suzuki sir.
 
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Hissing Sid said:
I get that the director originally wanted the story to have more episodes than three, and maybe that was feasible back in the days when his star was still hanging on in there, the series was still relevant and his name could maybe drum up interest.

But many many years later when you've burned through the atmosphere and the only peeps holding a flame for your games are a relatively small group hardcore fans, the very same fans who just threw you a lifeline....then maybe it's time to scale down your grand vision and advance the story accordingly.

I mean, unless this thing goes the way of Star Citizen with mega fans willing to fund you for eternity (Unlikely), there's a very good chance you just 'Half Lifed' the fans who fed you for the past several years.
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If this 4 year old article is still accurate, the story is supposed to be 4-5 games

www.polygon.com

Shenmue creator: Story has 11 chapters, ideally ‘4 or 5 games’ in the series

Your source for the latest in video games, sci-fi, fantasy, tabletop games, anime, horror, books, and comics.
www.polygon.com www.polygon.com
 
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EightBit Man said:
The game is there for a certain demographic; people who want to have the authentic Shenmue experience and a continuation of the saga. It was never meant to attain mass appeal.
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but suzuki is always talking about money to make sequels. there is no magic here. Shenmue is a black hole for money.
 
StreetsofBeige said:
If this 4 year old article is still accurate, the story is supposed to be 4-5 games

www.polygon.com

Shenmue creator: Story has 11 chapters, ideally ‘4 or 5 games’ in the series

Your source for the latest in video games, sci-fi, fantasy, tabletop games, anime, horror, books, and comics.
www.polygon.com www.polygon.com
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Yeah well grand visions are all very nice if you're George Lucas and your Ip is Star Wars (Past tense obviously), but Shenmue? Yu Suzuki?

When you're having to beg coin off fans for your game, you might want to dial back your expectations a touch because perhaps, just perhaps you might not get the chance to make further instalments.
 
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If they were expecting it to sell like a mainstream title, then yeah I guess the figures would be underwhelming. If they were expecting it to just shift a small number of copies as an homage to nostalgia then I guess it meets expectations. Just another example of how internet noise doesn't translate to the real pulse of the gaming community as a whole.
 
It is so dumb to downplay a game because "it is dated versus today games". Imagine saying the same about a movie or better yet a musical record.

Its even dumber to say it about Shenmue III, a work make possible only because of the fans and paid for in part by us the fans.

Us the fans, that demanded time and again for Shenmue III to not stray away from the original two Dreamcast games.

People really not care about context in reviewing and critizing a videogame these days?
 
I would support a kickstarter for 4 but i'm not sure that it would have the same support again. Games is alright, feels like a legit sequel made in the 2000's. I hate the combat tho, it's trash but that seems to be where they compromised in production.
 
I see people defending the non finished story online by saying he always had a plan for 4-5 games etc. But after the franchise being dead for so long and only being brought back in a cheap kickstarter way, it is all Yu Suzukis fault for not rewriting the script and finish it out in this game. Cut some of the walking around asking for random shit fat. xD
 
I kickstarted Shenmue 3. Was promised a PC digital version of the game.

Got it.

Now I'm hearing complaints that it's too much like Shenmue 1 and 2. Like ... I thought that was the fucking point?

Would kickstart Shenmues 4, 5 and 6.
 
Welp... TLG was pretty successful I suppose, Shenmue bombed... all we have left is for FFVIIR to bring it home... then maybe all that E3 2015 hype won't seem so ridiculous 😂
 
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