The Idea of Shenmue Fans Privately Funding Shenmue IV & V

Sergeynest

Sergeynest

Keep your Mind as clear as a Polished Mirror.
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
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Portugal , Sines
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Shenmue II
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Plague of Tale Requiem
This idea recently came into my mind; what if Shenmue fans privately decided to fund the development of Shenmue IV & V for the conclusion of the series !?
I know it would be hard and for most of us in our minds to believe and would probably be impossible to achieve; but would it be really that hard if we could make this happen in a transparent and trust worthy way !?
In my opinion I would gladly contribute for its development by becoming a patron by giving a fixed value of about 30 dollars or euros every month instead of buying a game or something else that would not give me the same pleasure this series as given me for more than 20 years.

But how many die hard fans would be willing to accept this compromise for lets say for at least a period of about at least 12 months straigth !?

Shenmue 3 was funded by 69,320 backers on kickstarter and reached a total of 81,087 backers with the slacker backer campaign.

Let's say that we could make a successful campaign by promoting this idea with a really well made trailer and by promoting it on social media like facebook, twitter, instagram, etc... and we could reach to about 50 000 Patrons in total worldwide that would provide 30 dollars/euros for 12 months straight by keeping their compromise without faulting a single month.
That would end up giving us about 18 000 000 wich in my opinion would be more than enough to create Shenmue 4 by reusing all that had already been done in the development of Shenmue 3.

I believe that if this dream became a reality Yu Suzuky and his team could give us a Shenmue 4 with the same scope and quality of Shenmue 2.
Patrons would be given monthly updates on the development of the game without spoilers and could be allowed to give feedback on its development but without interfering on the original vision of its creator.

For me the only big question is how could we make this happen in the most transparent and trustworthy way that would give confidence for such a large number of fans to contribute to this cause !?

Let me know your opinions on how we could make this a reality and not just another dream.



 
The idea sounds good on paper, but you'll be hard pressed to find people willing to contribute a fixed % of their salary every month... Especially as the fanbase shrinked after Shenmue 3.

And to be honest I'd rather not go through all the crowdfunding BS again and I'm sure YsNet doesn't as well.

Our only hope is to convert a rich oil prince into Shenmue fandom
 
Sergeynest said:
This idea recently came into my mind; what if Shenmue fans privately decided to fund the development of Shenmue IV & V for the conclusion of the series !?
I know it would be hard and for most of us in our minds to believe and would probably be impossible to achieve; but would it be really that hard if we could make this happen in a transparent and trust worthy way !?
In my opinion I would gladly contribute for its development by becoming a patron by giving a fixed value of about 30 dollars or euros every month instead of buying a game or something else that would not give me the same pleasure this series as given me for more than 20 years.

But how many die hard fans would be willing to accept this compromise for lets say for at least a period of about at least 12 months straigth !?

Shenmue 3 was funded by 69,320 backers on kickstarter and reached a total of 81,087 backers with the slacker backer campaign.

Let's say that we could make a successful campaign by promoting this idea with a really well made trailer and by promoting it on social media like facebook, twitter, instagram, etc... and we could reach to about 50 000 Patrons in total worldwide that would provide 30 dollars/euros for 12 months straight by keeping their compromise without faulting a single month.
That would end up giving us about 18 000 000 wich in my opinion would be more than enough to create Shenmue 4 by reusing all that had already been done in the development of Shenmue 3.

I believe that if this dream became a reality Yu Suzuky and his team could give us a Shenmue 4 with the same scope and quality of Shenmue 2.
Patrons would be given monthly updates on the development of the game without spoilers and could be allowed to give feedback on its development but without interfering on the original vision of its creator.

For me the only big question is how could we make this happen in the most transparent and trustworthy way that would give confidence for such a large number of fans to contribute to this cause !?

Let me know your opinions on how we could make this a reality and not just another dream.
Click to expand...
If it's the only way to get shenmue 4&5 then its okay for me
 
I feel that Yu Suzuki will have the opportunity to make Shenmue IV and V without funding like kickstarter for example, i feel that Yu Suzuki is making Shenmue IV but just can't announce yet, i really want to believe that next year we will have the Shenmue IV announcement but if this announcement doesn't happen next year then i will start to get worried about the future of the series about the games.

But like Kenzo said If it's the only way to get Shenmue IV and V then its okay for me.

I would gladly give my money to help Yu Suzuki and the team to complete this beautiful saga, if one day Yu-san feels that this is the only way i will help for sure, if one day the community unite to make this patreon idea a reality then you can count me in about helping with this.

Shenmue is my favorite game series and deserves to be complete in game format.
 
If they try to do another kickstarter it would most likely only reach around 5,000$ at most. I believe the anime will decide the fate of Shenmue.
 
I look at it as a wait and see. If fans voluntarily decide to raise the funds, there's a lot of legal hurdles to go through and so on. There's just too much to do it. It has to be done by Sega and/or Suzuki that hosts it. But if Suzuki does another Kickstarter, I'll be happy to give what I can.
 
the_phoenix_mirror said:
If they try to do another kickstarter it would most likely only reach around 5,000$ at most. I believe the anime will decide the fate of Shenmue.
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OK that's beyond pessimistic. Between the staff here we'd raise that in minutes.

I agree though the Anime is the key
 
KS and Slacker Backer combined, I contributed a lot to S3, over that two-year-period or what it was.

After S3‘s complete failure to deliver in the story department, there‘s no way I‘ll contribute more than 60 or 100 bucks to any form of crowdfunding for S4, especially not any kind of subscription model.
 
I would help to fund the games without a second thought but I am not fan of the idea. If it is the only way than it is ok but I hope there are other ways to make 4 and 5 a reality. I doubt that the idea will welcomend outside the hardcore fanbase ofter the suboptimal outcome of the fundung from S3.

I agree that the anime is rather important but will it really decide the future of the series? I seriously doubt that. Even if the typical anime fans will like the anime they are not going to like games automatically. The story and the action in the game will be presented in a different way compared to games. I do not think that the anime fans even if they like the anime would like the old Shenmue. They would consider it as boring and mundane like the rest of the modern gaming croud.

Shenmue in it's current form is a series for people with a different taste compared to the mainstream. Shenmue is the antithesis of modern gaming.

Increasing the popularity of Shenmue is impossible without killing the essence of the Series. The only way for it to thrive is to find investors that are not looking for the biggest revenue of all time. Investors that are happy to fund a art project that is different than the average stuff out there in the gaming market.
 
No, thanks. I'd rather remember the series fondly as an uncompromising masterpiece, even without a conclusion, than having S4 and 5 officially confirmed, but with a compromised vision and budget.
 
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It's a nice sentiment, but an unfixed and fluctuating budget is the last thing YsNet needs for a second game in a row. It makes it difficult to properly plan and the precarious nature of the income means artificially limiting resources to avoid potential financial jeopardy if it drops.

Really we should be lobbying the likes of Epic, who clearly have so much money that they're just throwing it away on lawsuits and trying to make the EGS supplant Steam. Fumito Ueda's games never really sold gangbusters but with the help of Ryan Payton he's negotiated a publishing deal with Epic for his next game.

the_phoenix_mirror said:
If they try to do another kickstarter it would most likely only reach around 5,000$ at most. I believe the anime will decide the fate of Shenmue.
Click to expand...
Don't be silly, lmao.
 
It maybe just me but I think we would be surprised with the contributions we would get.
I would gladly fund both games with a monthly contribution; No Kickstarter, No Stretch Goals, No Slacker Backer, No Rewards; just purely contributing to something that I love and dearly care about that has made a profound impact in my life and that deserves a conclusion no matter what.
 
I would never be paying money over to a project where it could turn out to be a complete waste, Shenmue/YSNET inclusive. At least the Kickstarter was high profile, and the simple fact was that a game had to be delivered on some level.

In saying that, there are better ways of going down the road of a steady income from loyal fans, and in this current gaming climate, a mobile game of some kind would go ways to having that core idea actually become a reality. Take Shenmue Gai, a topic that's currently active over in the Shenmue forums. Release that, with various in app purchases. You could do anything. Have it story driven, and to move onto the next area, you need to collect 3 keys from a capsule toy machine. You get 5 free spins a day, or pay for spins. Have stat bars for story turn based battles, and pay for extra stat bar buffs. If you have a specific character, sell 50/100 costume alternatives.

But have actual overall/attainable progression, even at a free level, but entice peple to pay for stuff to get things quicker, and take the ideas directly from the game itself. For example open Shenmue Gai, and you are based in Yokosuka & Sakaragaoka. Have a narrative story, the locations, and toy capsule machines outside Abe Store. Lock the player here, until they complete certain objectives. Get a specific toy capsule from the machine for Tatsuya. 3 free spins a day, or 20 spins for £1.99. Also have to defeat Enoki and Nagashima in the park. Then you move onto Dobuita. Expand a narrative, and the gameplay loop. Introduce more mechanics which have both free progression and paid buffs. In Shenmue 2, bring in lucky hit tokens. Again, pay for extra. That's 5 minutes of spitballing from someone who doesn't even work in the industry.

Shenmue Gai was a thing, and it shows that Yu Suzuki was interested in making mobile games, which is indeed a very lucrative market. For me, it's the only properly realistic way Shenmue IV can get funded, as well as YSNET grow as a studio. Not only with Shenmue Gai, there are other examples of YS wanting to release a mobile game:

www.eurogamer.net

Yu Suzuki announces smartphone game Gan! Gan! Pirates

Yu Suzuki - the former Sega man responsible for Shenmue, Virtua Fighter, Space Harrier and Out Run - is readying a smar…
www.eurogamer.net www.eurogamer.net

That's where the focus should be. Or at least, where I would be putting my efforts into, as the head honcho of what essentially is a young, relatively new development studio.
 
Peter said:
I would never be paying money over to a project where it could turn out to be a complete waste, Shenmue/YSNET inclusive. At least the Kickstarter was high profile, and the simple fact was that a game had to be delivered on some level.

In saying that, there are better ways of going down the road of a steady income from loyal fans, and in this current gaming climate, a mobile game of some kind would go ways to having that core idea actually become a reality. Take Shenmue Gai, a topic that's currently active over in the Shenmue forums. Release that, with various in app purchases. You could do anything. Have it story driven, and to move onto the next area, you need to collect 3 keys from a capsule toy machine. You get 5 free spins a day, or pay for spins. Have stat bars for story turn based battles, and pay for extra stat bar buffs. If you have a specific character, sell 50/100 costume alternatives.

But have actual overall/attainable progression, even at a free level, but entice peple to pay for stuff to get things quicker, and take the ideas directly from the game itself. For example open Shenmue Gai, and you are based in Yokosuka & Sakaragaoka. Have a narrative story, the locations, and toy capsule machines outside Abe Store. Lock the player here, until they complete certain objectives. Get a specific toy capsule from the machine for Tatsuya. 3 free spins a day, or 20 spins for £1.99. Also have to defeat Enoki and Nagashima in the park. Then you move onto Dobuita. Expand a narrative, and the gameplay loop. Introduce more mechanics which have both free progression and paid buffs. In Shenmue 2, bring in lucky hit tokens. Again, pay for extra. That's 5 minutes of spitballing from someone who doesn't even work in the industry.

Shenmue Gai was a thing, and it shows that Yu Suzuki was interested in making mobile games, which is indeed a very lucrative market. For me, it's the only properly realistic way Shenmue IV can get funded, as well as YSNET grow as a studio. Not only with Shenmue Gai, there are other examples of YS wanting to release a mobile game:

www.eurogamer.net

Yu Suzuki announces smartphone game Gan! Gan! Pirates

Yu Suzuki - the former Sega man responsible for Shenmue, Virtua Fighter, Space Harrier and Out Run - is readying a smar…
www.eurogamer.net www.eurogamer.net

That's where the focus should be. Or at least, where I would be putting my efforts into, as the head honcho of what essentially is a young, relatively new development studio.
Click to expand...
Here's a question on that note. Do you think YS was ahead of the curve a little bit in going into mobile gaming when he did? Whereas now it is quite common place, stigma has gone and is more lucrative?
 
Perhaps best way to contribute to this is buying more copies of Shenmue III and I&II? Still I'm not sure on what % that would help to Shenmue IV, but I still think that is the best way at present.
 
spud1897 said:
Here's a question on that note. Do you think YS was ahead of the curve a little bit in going into mobile gaming when he did? Whereas now it is quite common place, stigma has gone and is more lucrative?
Click to expand...
Possibly yes, but it's unclear if Shenmue Gai did indeed have pay to play elements to it. Those really started to hit their stride around the 2012/2013 mark. These days, I would agree they are more commonplace. They are just accepted now, and not criticized or lambasted against. My dad literally spends hours a day on Farmville is it called? Looks like Rollercoaster Tycoon to me, but of course I recognise all of those coins, and friends gifts mechanics built in etc. Hell I've paid for more money on some slots game i played a while back. I think it was Pharaoh's Slots? All sorts of offers. Like a 15 minute window to get 500% extra free. They are very clever, and as long as it's packaged up right, as well as offering legitimate fun, who's to judge?

In this day and age, YS could release a mobile game, generate millions in revenue a year, and it wouldn't make headline news anywhere. Such is the acceptance and nature of mobiles games in this day and age. The more time goes on, and Shenmue IV looks less and less likely, other avenues being explored is a smart business decision. The anime is an example of that. If YSNET release a mobile game, it would an equally smart decision. If that happened tomorrow, you can be absolutely sure as shit that I would be buying it, and dropping all sorts of money into it. Especially if it's a brand new IP, totally owned by YSNET. If I know the money is going directly to him, and not Sega, Koch, or anyone else.... I would be absolutely ecstatic.

We are skewing off topic a bit, perhaps this deserves a topic of its own maybe?
 
Fukuhara said:
Perhaps best way to contribute to this is buying more copies of Shenmue III and I&II? Still I'm not sure on what % that would help to Shenmue IV, but I still think that is the best way at present.
Click to expand...
The problem I see with that is that part of the money goes to the publisher Deep Silver and Sega and Ys Net just gets a small cut of the sales; and considering that the price of the games is smaller than when they were first released, this means that even selling more copies of the games wont guarantee a large enough profit to spark the interest for the publisher to risk investing in another game of the series whereas a regular donnation from fan would go fully to Ys Net itself and for the development of the games; meaning that neither the publisher or Sega would receive a single cent.
 
Sergeynest said:
The problem I see with that is that part of the money goes to the publisher Deep Silver and Sega and Ys Net just gets a small cut of the sales; and considering that the price of the games is smaller than when they were first released, this means that even selling more copies of the games wont guarantee a large enough profit to spark the interest for the publisher to risk investing in another game of the series whereas a regular donnation from fan would go fully to Ys Net itself and for the development of the games; meaning that neither the publisher or Sega would receive a single cent.
Click to expand...
You can be right, but still I think is the best that can be done right now, at least can serve to they measure the general interest of people on the franchise. Better sales are always better.

Also, support the anime in the future too, very important. Watch at Crunchyroll many times at possible to sum views.
 
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