In a strange appearance for an E3 stage reveal, Yu Suzuki — creator of many Sega classics, including Shenmue — revealed a Kickstarter for Shenmue 3. The game isn't being funded by Sony ... in fact, it's being funded by fans on its Kickstarter page, so it's not clear exactly why this was a stage presence.
Shenmue was hugely anticipated and was first released for Sega's doomed Dreamcast console in 1999. A sequel was released for both Dreamcast and Xbox two years later, but left the series unfinished. A conclusion to the series has been widely anticipated since then.
The $29 Kickstarter tier rewards backers with a copy on either PC or PlayStation 4. No other console platforms are mentioned, and the game's stretch goals — which extend all the way up to $4 million — don't include any other platforms. The project has already exceeded $100,000 in just the first minutes of its month-long campaign, though its total has jumped around erratically for various Polygon staff, presumably owing to the page's popularity.
Sony has reached its target of $2m (£1.3m) to fund the making of Shenmue III within hours of launching a Kickstarter campaign.
The countdown to the start of the fund-raising campaign took place on stage during the Sony press conference at E3.
The press event also saw Sony announce that long-awaited game The Last Guardian would soon be released.
Open world action games Shenmue I and II are well-known among gamers and are often on lists of all-time best games.
Creator Yu Suzuki appeared on stage at the Sony event to say that he chose to crowd-fund the project to let fans have more of a role in bringing the game to life.
This is so great. Can't believe it is happening. I just keep expecting it to all be some sort of trick. There have been too many times where we've had the rug pulled out from under us.
On a side note, from Kickstarter's Twitter. Looks like we crashed KickStarter:
"Site performance is back up to speed. We're still monitoring everything. We've never seen anything like this. Thanks for your patience! #E3"
It hasn't completely hit me yet. The last few years I've become num to any rumors. Ironically, Sega wasn't even at E3 this year. Maybe they should have stop coming to E3 years ago.
Sony's partnership is confirmed! At about 57 minutes they're talking with Yu Suzuki and Sony. "We set the goal at 2 million dollars and if the fans come in and back it, then absolutely we're going to make this a reality."
Thank-you Sony.