My thoughts exactly. Sega is a company. They are in the market to make money, not to post artsy fartsy games. Shenmue costed as much as a motion picture to make, and put a dent in their coffers. It's not like they could look to the DVD release to recover some money like studios do.
Every single model and texture in Shenmue 3 is going to cost money. If they don't put enough money in it, they run the risk of the game not living up to the other two and not selling. Loss.
If they put a lot of money in it, they run the risk of not recouping their investment. (Did the first two games break even?) Loss.
Fan love isn't enough to keep a company or franchise going, as evidenced sadly with the Dreamcast. As much as I'd love to find out what happens next with Ryo, what makes us think the game would sell well enough to warrant its development costs, given the results with the other two? We should be grateful that Sega has been surviving all this time as a publisher or 3rd-party, instead of having joined the ranks of Atari, Commodore or 3D0.
They are better off inventing new franchises or keeping their current ones updated. Gaming is a risky business, and attempting *now* the same type of venture that hurt them so bad many years ago would be nothing short of stupid. It's as if Microsoft used the Vista core for Windows 8 or 9 down the road. Suicide.
This
Its to bad that it'll never see the light of day, I loved the first two games and will always be stuck wondering what would of happend.
It will never happen. But I'll always hope that it will.
At this point there's really only two realistic possibilities:
1) Shenmue 3, Episode 1 is released as a small DLC chapter to start off Shenmue 3. Fans really buy it, show support etc. Maybe it's possible, probably not.
2) Yu Suzuki releases the rest of the story as a book, maybe with a few illustrations made from original concept work done for Shenmue 3. Sure, it will be an entirely different experience, but at least we'll know what happens.
It would be great to at least conclude the story somehow. Then again, I'm also still waiting for Neutopia III.
[quote="okonomiyaki"]At this point there's really only two realistic possibilities:
1) Shenmue 3, Episode 1 is released as a small DLC chapter to start off Shenmue 3. Fans really buy it, show support etc. Maybe it's possible, probably not.
2) Yu Suzuki releases the rest of the story as a book, maybe with a few illustrations made from original concept work done for Shenmue 3. Sure, it will be an entirely different experience, but at least we'll know what happens.[quote]
You make a very good point. A small DLC chapter would be much faster and lower cost to develop and would be an excellent judge of where the market stands on the desire for the game.
A book is an even cheaper alternative and the idea of using some concept art would really help bring it to life. I've heard suggestions of making it a manga instead of a novel, but I really think the depth of the story lends itself more to a novel. Then again, you get the artwork with manga so it is really a toss up.
Either way, Shenmue III is something that has an existing fan base that is eager for more content. Whether or not Sega wants to bother with trying to tap that desire or not is really impossible for any of us to say.
Well that's kind of silly to base a purchase decision on 0.1% of the game, especially when the narrative aspect is such a small proportion of this installment. I've never understood the impulse some people have to just start by reading/watching the end of something, but if you're not interested in working up toward something, and enjoying the steps along the way, then yeah, this probably isn't the game for you.
