Shenmue IV Will Happen - Here's Why!

[Suzaku]

Yeah, absolutely. You describe it very well. One self-contained game with Niao Sun as a villant.

If someone had told me 10 years ago that the Atelier game would become popular and sell 1.6 million, I would have told them they were crazy! I know that they have a great team and a publisher that supports them for years (or decades?).... and this is a little different to Shenmue, but.... We can dream, right?

If a publisher guarantees us two Shenmue games in the next 4 years... What a magical years for gaming awaits us.

Yeh, games like Yakuza, Persona, Atelier etc. were all super niche, BUT those series were supported for years despite low sales, and look now... :)
the irony is now both Persona and Yakuza are two pillars of Sega Atlus, two previously niche games!!!
It would be the same for Shenmue.

The key is to continuously try with more and more sequels and spin off, it takes time but it pays off on the long run.

Now if only we could convince the stubborn managers at Sega...

 

[Suzaku]

I wonder how much trimming can be done like with shenmue 3 it would’ve benefited from more trimming of small story bits like the gangs and instead including more important story bits and character progression i think it is the ideal choice to end it in V, but not IV

Shenmue 3 was a "bridge" chapter (well it include also the verdant bridge lol ), but from Shenmue 4 onward I think they will focus more on the main parts of the story, means Niao Sun and Chiyoumen gang, rather than just some thugs and secondary gangs like shenmue 3.

 

[ahmed_alency7]

Shenmue 3 was a "bridge" chapter (well it include also the verdant bridge lol ), but from Shenmue 4 onward I think they will focus more on the main parts of the story, means Niao Sun and Chiyoumen gang, rather than just some thugs and secondary gangs like shenmue 3.

How long do you think shenmue 4 will be?

 

[xatruio]

5 GDroms

 

[Suzaku]

How long do you think shenmue 4 will be?

In my opinion it will probably be longer than Shenmue 3 for the main story.

 

[Sonoshee]

Shenmue 3 was a "bridge" chapter (well it include also the verdant bridge lol ), but from Shenmue 4 onward I think they will focus more on the main parts of the story, means Niao Sun and Chiyoumen gang, rather than just some thugs and secondary gangs like shenmue 3.

S3 was also a more personal entry, like S1. They "expand inward, not outward" as Mr Suzuki likes to say I imagine S4 will be more on the level of S2.

 

[Seaman]

5 GDroms

Next gen seems to finally be totally absent of physical format

 

[darksniper]

Almost 4 years later and we're still no closer to Shenmue 4 than we were in 2020. I don't wanna be that guy, but the future is looking bleak again and I'm starting to lose hope. I'm starting to feel like if Shenmue 4 has a realistic chance of being made, it would need to be funded internally by Sega. This is one of the worst case scenarios we could be in at this point.

 

[Suzaku]

Sega could really made things easy...
The amount of effort required would be similar to just one single chapter of Yakuza/spin off.

And the only risk in all this, is to have another successful series in future.

I think we need to step up and start to really bother Sega and their team about Shenmue 4, instead of going random to various publishers.

 

[RetroLord120]

Sega could really made things easy...
The amount of effort required would be similar to just one single chapter of Yakuza/spin off.

And the only risk in all this, is to have another successful series in future.

I think we need to step up and start to really bother Sega and their team about Shenmue 4, instead of going random to various publishers.

They could guarantee it being a success by just creating shenmue: The saga, including a remake of the first 3 games and then an additional 4 and possibly 5 in there. Essentially, make the entire story in one game. Gamers would buy this as they know they're getting a complete experience and don't have to bother with the past games. Think, sega

 

[thedemon1238]

I'm not generally for harassing companies, but I'm totally FOR pushing Sammy-SEGA. They are starting to annoy me a lot.

 

[ahmed_alency7]

I'm not generally for harassing companies, but I'm totally FOR pushing Sammy-SEGA. They are starting to annoy me a lot.

They’ve been annoying me for a lot, besides shenmue they have so many other franchises that they don’t use

 

[Suzaku]

They could guarantee it being a success by just creating shenmue: The saga, including a remake of the first 3 games and then an additional 4 and possibly 5 in there. Essentially, make the entire story in one game. Gamers would buy this as they know they're getting a complete experience and don't have to bother with the past games. Think, sega

probably I will trigger some yakuza fans here, but Shenmue 1&2 HD sold more than Yakuza Remastered, that alone should mean something...
so yes probably they could guarantee success by just creating shenmue 4 and 5 (imagine all the sales driven by just "sega returning to shenmue"). I think they underestimated the potential of this franchise.

 

[Seaman]

I believe that there's internal struggle between Sega of Japan alone advocating for Shenmue IV and then the rest of Segas and specially the Sammydian branch not willing to compete against their own (and Sony's) RGG audience space.
At the end, it seems that not having Sega in the equation serves better for Shenmue IV realization. Without late scares like sudden cancellations after spending embarrasing amounts of money.

 

[thedemon1238]

The Yakuza franchise is in the stratosphere of popularity right now. Even the Game Awards nominated Yakuza 8 for the most anticipated games for 2024 along with Star Wars, Final Fantasy 7 part 2 and Tekken 8.

Otherwise, Shenmue has the potential to be a big series in terms of sales as well, but it requires investment. Something that Sammy-SEGA does not provide for 20 years....

 

[thedemon1238]

I know many series are in the state of Shenmue. I would even say that we are lucky that we got the third part. Again, thanks to the unique community and key figures in the game business...

For example, if Shenmue's evil stepmother is Sammy, Lagacy of Kain/Soul Reaver's evil stepmother is Square-Enix. Both series were declared unprofitable by the new owners. Maybe Legacy of Kain fans weren't as insistent as we were. Maybe we really need to push them hard. :)

 

[darksniper]

One of the key factors of Shenmue IV being a success is the involvement of Sega. I believe that YS succeeded in ensuring that Shenmue III retained it's core identity as a Shenmue game. But what was sorely missing from it was Sega's imprint. Shenmue III felt partially soulless due to the very limited Sega branding. Instead of Yu Suzuki having to re-create Virtua Fighter with chobo figures, VF 2 should have been in Shenmue III at the very minimum.

Shenmue IV will have this same problem if it's funded by an outside investor instead of Sega. Sega has a unique opportunity to celebrate it's own history through Shenmue by adding capsule toys, arcade games, etc. Basically, Shenmue IV NEEDS to include a little bit of soul from Sega for it to be the complete Shenmue experience.

I've always found it lowkey insulting that Sega has put in many of their AM2 classics in the RGG/Judgment games and yet Shenmue III couldn't even receive one. Had YSnet been able to outsource and port legacy Sega titles to Shenmue III, the budget could have possibly been allocated to include other things that had to be cut like Baisha instead of YSNet having to develop brand new arcade games from scratch.

Regardless of logistics, the future of Shenmue lies solely in the hands the owner of it's IP, not Yu Suzuki. All roads lead to Sega.

 

[darksniper]

I believe that there's internal struggle between Sega of Japan alone advocating for Shenmue IV and then the rest of Segas and specially the Sammydian branch not willing to compete against their own (and Sony's) RGG audience space.
At the end, it seems that not having Sega in the equation serves better for Shenmue IV realization. Without late scares like sudden cancellations after spending embarrasing amounts of money.

I definitely believe there's an internal struggle inside Sega, and politics 100% being the reason why Shenmue 4 hasn't been greenlit. But I get the sense there's some sort of animosity between YS and some key members at Sega. Somewhat similar to what happened between Kojima and Konami. Main difference being that YS hasn't completely burned all of his bridges at Sega.

But avoiding competition between their own internal franchises is a reason that I don't buy. The fact that Sega resourced RGG to create a Fist of the Northstar game that nobody asked for shows that they were willing to use their engine for games outside of the RGG series. I don't know what the sales are, but I'm confident that Shenmue III probably outsold that FOTN game that came out.

Sega could easily have made it to Shenmue 7 if they would just use the already polished Dragon Engine to make some new Shenmue games instead.

 

[Suzaku]

I definitely believe there's an internal struggle inside Sega, and politics 100% being the reason why Shenmue 4 hasn't been greenlit. But I get the sense there's some sort of animosity between YS and some key members at Sega. Somewhat similar to what happened between Kojima and Konami. Main difference being that YS hasn't completely burned all of his bridges at Sega.

But avoiding competition between their own internal franchises is a reason that I don't buy. The fact that Sega resourced RGG to create a Fist of the Northstar game that nobody asked for shows that they were willing to use their engine for games outside of the RGG series. I don't know what the sales are, but I'm confident that Shenmue III probably outsold that FOTN game that came out.

Sega could easily have made it to Shenmue 7 if they would just use the already polished Dragon Engine to make some new Shenmue games instead.

I really loved FOTN Lost Paradise, for fans of the manga and sega/yakuza series, it's a dream come true.
But I think you're aren't that far for sales, I remember that Sega expected 400k in Japan, can't remember it it reached those numbers at the end counting the west, but I found an old topic where they mentioned 167,000 copies in Japan after some months, so similar to other yakuza games in Japan.

With Shenmue 3 we should be in the realm of 300k minimum (worldwide), so we aren't that far in case.

I don't think it's really a competition, both Shenmue and Yakuza are Sega games, each do a different thing.
They could be alternated to avoid fatigue in Yakuza franchise (one year Yakuza, one year Shenmue, third year a spin off and so on).

Also RGG has an already established "factory" that is able to make open world yakuza games in less than a year.
Of course with Shenmue you can't recycle too much, but all the cutscenes technology, mocap, engines used in RGG etc. are ready and adapting those to UE4 / UE5 for shenmue 4 and 5 would greatly reduce overall costs, compared to Ysnet working with another company.

 

[SMDzero]

One of the key factors of Shenmue IV being a success is the involvement of Sega. I believe that YS succeeded in ensuring that Shenmue III retained it's core identity as a Shenmue game. But what was sorely missing from it was Sega's imprint. Shenmue III felt partially soulless due to the very limited Sega branding. Instead of Yu Suzuki having to re-create Virtua Fighter with chobo figures, VF 2 should have been in Shenmue III at the very minimum.

Shenmue IV will have this same problem if it's funded by an outside investor instead of Sega. Sega has a unique opportunity to celebrate it's own history through Shenmue by adding capsule toys, arcade games, etc. Basically, Shenmue IV NEEDS to include a little bit of soul from Sega for it to be the complete Shenmue experience.

I've always found it lowkey insulting that Sega has put in many of their AM2 classics in the RGG/Judgment games and yet Shenmue III couldn't even receive one. Had YSnet been able to outsource and port legacy Sega titles to Shenmue III, the budget could have possibly been allocated to include other things that had to be cut like Baisha instead of YSNet having to develop brand new arcade games from scratch.

Regardless of logistics, the future of Shenmue lies solely in the hands the owner of it's IP, not Yu Suzuki. All roads lead to Sega.

Do you really think Shenmue should have a full Virtua Fighter game you could play? Wouldn’t that be a little too on the nose? I don’t think an arcade game within the game world should have a better fighting system than the game itself. Even S1-2 had a watered down VF fighting system, why have a superior system in an arcade game?

I’d be all for Altered Beast and Virtua Racing to be included in the game. Maybe even Sonic Fighters. Any other Sega arcade game really that doesn’t risk outshining the actual game.