Shenmue 3 is already here. I don't think they're going to go through the effort to change it now when all yu would want to do is get the story one step closer to the finish line. The letter at the end of the 3rd game more or less confirmed this that now he'll leave that game with us and hopes to spin the tales of ryo & friends further with shenmue IV. As much as I would like a reworked/revamped shenmue 3 I just want to see the next piece of the puzzle now. Any energy this community has needs to focus on going forward with the story and not back over old pages.
Yeah. Thus it would be a ass for 110 to be able to use the Shenmue 3 brand, since Shenmue 3 is co-detained by Sega and Deep Silver.
I could very well see a Shenmue Spin-Off, maybe bit of a prequel or something like this idk. Maybe a completely different kind of game than Shenmue, but set in the Shenmue universe. Like a fighting game with Shenmue's characters, maybe a point n click, maybe a 2D beat em all. Who knows.
But I guess it would be a strategy to both test the market for the Shenmue brand, to see if it's truly worth investing in the franchise and how much. And also bring in some money to further funds the franchise, since 110 didn't release any game so far, so I don't think they can simply go ahead and put 15-20 millions in a game without the insurance that it will bring something.
Anyway, even though I wish with all my heart the it would be Shenmue 4, I would still be happy to see a new Shenmue game even if it's not S4. Hell, I'll be really happy too if it's a Yu Suzuki's game that isn't related to Shenmue at all.
The only thing that would disappoint me, is if it's not a game from Yu, and that all this teasing is for nothing.