Yesterday, Shenmue III made the headlines after creator Yu Suzuki launched a Kickstarter for it following its reveal at Sony’s E3 press conference. The Kickstarter took off, gaining the required $2 million in under a day, and now Sony has come out to say that they are partnering with Ys Net and Yu Suzuki to create Shenmue III.
During the official PlayStation E3 livestream today, SCE Third Party Productions Director Gio Corsi announced that the Kickstarter was a way to judge interest in the game. Sony thought that “if the fans come in and back it, then absolutely, we’re going to make this a reality.” And since the fans very clearly did back it, Corsi said that “Sony and PlayStation are definitely a partner in this game.”
First off, Shenmue III was the number one ask on the whole #BuildingTheList campaign, so when that first started, right off the bat, ‘Shenmue III, Shenmue III, Shenmue III.’ So this has been an ask for as long as I’ve been at PlayStation. And we met with Suzuki-san at GDC last year and we started the long road to try and figure out how we were going to get this whole thing made.
We said, ‘the only way this is going to happen is if fans speak up,’ and we thought Kickstarter was the perfect place to do this. So we set a goal for $2 million and if the fans come in and back it, then absolutely, we’re going to make this a reality. So, Sony and PlayStation are definitely a partner in this game, and it’s going to be run through Third Party Productions with Ys Net. We’re going to get the game done. We’re going to be partners the whole way, and we’re really excited to see this thing come out in a couple of years.
How do you feel about Sony partnering with Ys Net? Did you donate any money to Shenmue III‘s Kickstarter yet?
[Source: PlayStation (Twitch) via Gematsu]
