‘Shenmue 3’ Kickstarter To Offer Physical Copies Of Upcoming Sequel

When Shenmue 3 was officially announced during Sony’s E3 2015 press conference, there was an uproarious applause and, at once, a collective, big sigh of relief; after all of this time, the oft-demanded sequel in the Shenmue series, which began and abruptly ended during the era of Sega’s Dreamcast console, was finally coming.

Considering the myriad of other fan-favorite titles being resurrected, Shenmue 3‘s announcement came as less of a surprise than it could have (not that fans are complaining about a Final Fantasy VII reboot), but it did have one rather unique thing going for it: funding for the project would have to come from Kickstarter, the funding site which most of us are well familiar with.

Developing an established, beloved franchise by way of Kickstarter is passing through uncharted waters for developers, but the project seems to be coming along just fine. In fact, it was recently announced that Shenmue 3 would feature physical copies, disc included, for all backers of the dream project.

While the digital version will set you back only $29.99, the PlayStation 4 disc-based offering comes in at $60 — which is the exact same price you’ll have to pay if you’d rather purchase the game on your Windows PC of choice.

Considering the sheer amount of demand for a sequel to the Shenmue series, it’s difficult to imagine Shenmue 3 as being a success — at least at the retailers. At the time, critics were lukewarm at best towards the earlier offerings, but the series developed a sort of “cult” following that kept it growing strong — far stronger than it ought to have been, some might say.

It will be interesting to fans to see what sort of mechanics are returning and what new mechanics will be introduced for the third entry in the cult classic. Whether you’re a fan of the series or not, curiosity begs gamers to at least see what the third game will be all about.

Speaking of which, you can check out the brief video shown at E3 below. But before you go, let us know in the comments what you think! Will Shenmue 3 be enough of a success with critics and consumers alike to make yet another game?

[Image credit: Sega]