Things aren’t looking good for Ryo Hazuki’s comeback tour, as Shenmue III keeps being discounted further, even though it was only released a month ago.
Shenmue III was a project that saw many attempts to get off the ground for many years, but it wasn’t until crowdfunding became popular that it managed to become a reality. Yu Suzuki appeared during Sony’s memorable E3 2015 conference in order to announce the Kickstarter project for Shenmue 3. The game would receive over seven million dollars from multiple platforms, as well as additional funds from Deep Silver, Sony, and Epic as part of an Epic Games Store exclusivity deal.
If Shenmue III is underperforming in the sales department, then there are a few different things that could be holding it back. The diehard Shenmue fans will have already paid for their copies as part of their Kickstarter pledge back in 2015 and the game doesn’t hold much appeal to people outside of the fanbase. The Epic exclusivity deal also rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way, as this decision alienated many PC players who were expecting to play the game on Steam.
Shenmue III was able to pay for itself through crowdfunding and exclusivity deals, but it’s easy to see why it could be underperforming with the mainstream gaming public. Not everyone is willing to jump into a story in the third entry and the HD remasters of the first two games are living testaments to how poorly they have aged. The reviews for Shenmue III made it clear that it’s a game that will only appeal to the diehard fans and even the fifteen-year wait has done little to spark curiosity for the people who have only heard about the game due to its long stint in development hell.
Source: Game Idealist
