Megauap on NeoGAF stated that he just received a reply to his question (sent on the first day of the Kickstarter) about the PS4 physical copy:

Thank you very much for your message!
We understand there have been many requests; however there are currently no plans to produce a physical reward for the PS4.

As to why there are no current plans for a PS4 version, we are very sorry, but are unable to answer at this time. We know this may not be the answer you had hoped for, but please understand that indeed, your comments have been heard and passed on to Ys Net and Yu Suzuki.
Your feedback is what will make the this Kickstarter really succeed, and we cannot thank you enough. The day is come that we are finally able to enjoy what we have waited so long for with the return of Shenmue and we hope we can count on your continued support to bring back, and make Shenmue 3 the best game it can be.

K. Kitabayashi &
The Shenmue 3 Kickstarter Team

For the record, I would rather have no Shenmue III than a terrible Shenmue III, but Shenmue III is not out yet and we are not even one month into the Kickstarter campaign so all the dismissive pleadings comes off as cynical and extremely forced. We don't know how it's going to go. It go bad, it could go well. Let's just wait and see?

We are closer to 2 million because it's been a bloody week, mittenz. For a Shenmue fan, I'm utterly shocked by your lack of patience.

Riku Rose wrote: Brilliant idea.

It actually is. Will be great exposure.

I went up from $300 to $500 and then back to $300 (and now I'm back to $500) when i was having some second thoughts about how much I should pledge. I wasn't trying to make anyone upset, but I'm now back up to $500 and will consider adding more the closer we get to the deadline.

I do think Kickstarter should make it difficult to change your pledge or should verify you have funds when you go up to a certain amount. I think it'd be pretty difficult for a coordinated group of trolls to actively sabotage any Kickstarter. For one, most of them are probably 13 and don't have credit cards.

I

I don't think anyone is talking about a few hundred dollars here or there. There have been times when (particularly when approaching stretch goals), the funding has dropped by several thousands (or even tens of thousands) in succession. Those have got to be trolls.

For Christ's sake, could you please wait for the Kickstarter to finish, first? No offence here, but the panicking over here is starting to go over the top. Pour into the KS as much as you can, wait for it to finish. Await Ys Net's statement on it.

If, after July 18 you should still think we have made too little money, I reckon you will be warmly welcome to make your monthly contribution to Ys Net via Paypal.

Isn't Yu Suzuki like, totally detached from the gaming world? I'm pretty sure he's stated a few times he doesn't play or even have much interest in video games.

Yea. He even kinda got to where he is today by chance. In a interview it said he never wanted to be a game designer, just that he happened to get a job at Sega. Which is pretty amazing considering the contributions he's made to the industry.

I trust Yu Suzuki more than "game journalists". Let them have their soap box and sit on it. It's better just not to give those click baiters hits, ya know?

It won't. Yu Suzuki isn't backing down and the fans have made their voices heard - we've pledged and the game is funded and that's it. Whatever else any of these people that hate Shenmue who happen to write articles on game websites say will not change anything. Let's stay positive, since Suzuki's newest statements are very positive for us, the fans. To hell with the rest.

If they had it coming to xbox one it would be over 5 million by now , I hope sony are paying millions for this , if not im pretty annoyed on the lost out potential xbox user funds .

Microsoft had plenty of opportunities to revive the franchise and could have even done it in co-operation with Yu the same way Sony is doing it now with support and advertising; but ultimately, they decided not to. That's fine, but then nothing can be said when it doesn't come out on the Xbox One. Sony have given Yu the chance he deserves, not MS. Cut them some slack.

Another thread for this? Mods can we lock them up. This is getting out of hand. Clearly if the goal was 2 million then they had something in mind to be safe and mindful. Now they're playing catch up due to the interest! It's that simple.

The strech goals don't represent the actual costs of the features attached to them. Please keep this in mind.

They play on PC though, right? That's Shenmue 3's main platform.
Not really, it's honestly all lol. if you go to a computer place it will be like 90 percent lol. Some CF ( cross fire) that shit shooter... seriously bad I tried it once

A lot of the girls like those cute anime inspired girl games. China is a different culture as well, they are really mute tot he world more than most think. Only if your in bj , sh or a few other cities will they not be quite different culturally. You can't ask a chinese person how are you doing or what's up. If you say we should hang out, they will always say I'm busy now. Even though the ? isn't about now.... They don't understand western culture very well nor do they adapt to it very well.

There are a few more simple minnded gamers here and I know some that do play ps2, xbox , cod etc but that is a very lower number. I hardly ever meet anyone randomly that has a game system.

They are huge into iphones and phone games though.. Chinese people are use to being around hundreds of people, so they often need to be around others to go out and have a good time. It's a very pair up and go out culture. Ignore everone else around, they are as bad as you think when they have that strange by standard effect as well. I think they are like ants, just use to running around each other and ignoring one another.

Most of their games are on some sort of free to play system as wel, they don't buy movies either. I have only found legit movies from hk in book stores. Everything else is boot legs in the back room at the music stores.

Basicaly, they don't want to buy games , especially pc.

With that said, I'm not saying the game can't work here. But the ks has a better chance of hitting 10 million than me ever running into a person that knows what shenmue is.

Some of you are the ones who make me cringe. Awesome Japan asked nearly all the most prominent questions.
Yea the dude in red conducted himself immaturely - but when all is said and done he did his job. You guys need to put your energy into raising funds and stop all this whiny bullshit.

the dude in red is now legend status. Most of us have been waiting for this q&a half our lifetime and all you guys could do is fucking talk about the interviewer its pathetic.

That's exactly what I said. People care more about rewards than they do about some clown in a chat room. The Shenmue 3 Kickstarter has still managed to become one of the most successful Kickstarters of all time in spite of Awesome Japan. The Sony announcement was a masterstroke, and they're lucky they got it.
Yeah, the surprise announcement of Shenmue 3 at Sony's conference, back to back with FFVII, is going to be remembered as one of the greatest moments in E3's history. Even if the Kickstarter campaign itself has had its share of problem nobody can take away the glory of that moment, when Shenmue 3 was finally revealed.

In the years ahead we just need to make sure that people remember Shenmue 3 itself, the game once it's released; along with the wonder of Shenmue 3’s announcement. Any mistakes made along the way by Awesome Japan can simply remain buried in the past, unremarked upon and safely forgotten.

Practically all the new tiers have been filled up with only a few left within the $2000....even if it sucked they surged up quickly at least another $60,000 so it worked. Now lets get more rewards rolling because CLEARLY they are working.

People are being too harsh. Yes, it was unprofessional, but no, it hasn't and won't hurt the Kickstarter and it doesn't make the project look bad. I understand that it's Shenmue III and it's really important, but we need to stop looking for excuses and justifications for the slowing down of the KS - it's only natural.
Last night we found out some new information and got some new reward tiers which in result caused a funding boost. I don't see how anyone can think that is a bad thing. Perhaps they could have answered some more questions but it's still better than nothing.

Plus, Red Shirt was lovable.

One shot at Shenmue 3, and the budget is determined by this guy? Really puts a damper on everything when you have to wonder what could have been had a competent firm handled this campaign. It's hard to put into words how discontent I am over this. Shenmue 3 is announced and these guys have found a way to curb my elation. Unacceptable.

YS Net, please fire these clowns and hire a team that can still create enough hype to make this KS campaign as successful as it should be.
This. Literally anyone will do. Just grab someone off the streets.

Suzuki retweets fan stuff sometimes, so he must read his mentions occasionally, is it worth contacting him over this?

While Awesome Japan needs to be replaced, I fear with just under 3-weeks left in the campaign firing them and having another company come in and pick up the pieces might be more disastrous, however if things continue the way they have we might not have anything to lose. Hopefully new, non-limited finding tiers will go up this weekend and they will start putting in the same effort as the fans to get this KS campaign marketed and out there.

But yes, I think you should contact Ys Net and voice your opinion on this matter. I'm sure they are already aware of the fan's dissatisfaction with the campaign, but it wouldn't hurt.

I seriously called all of these animated gifs being made. The guy was really acting bizarre; I'm wondering what his situation with YsNet or the rest of Awesome Japan is after that stream.

Looking at it from a glass half full perspective though, at the very least all of the questions asked were relevant, even though we already knew the answers to some of them. I kind of wish more of the stretch goals were explained, but I really hope in the coming weeks, AJ steps their game up with the Q&A's, along with their kickstarter management.

I know someone put his twitter up, but lets try not to blast Joel Tess's twitter with insults. It might give you a good chuckle, but in the end it's ultimately counterproductive to running the campaign, and it makes us all look bad. Two fumbles don't make a right.

By the way though, what was up with the Fanta thing at the beginning? Are they a sponsor or something? I found that part to be very odd.

Sony's involvement was more than welcome for the sake of the campaign. The problem is that whenever bad publicity is on, Awesome Japan doesn't do much to try to address the issue on the spot.

I feel bad for Yu Suzuki, as Awesome Japan is his only avenue of communication and he can only depend on them to make this work.

It's unlikely to me that it's possible to change teams now (they could hire external help though if budget allows Yu to do so), otherwise we will just continue to do what we must do.

It was no kidding when Yu Suzuki said that the future of Shenmue 3 was in our hands, literally. :rotflmao:

I didn't really find any fault with the Twitch stream at all. I think maybe the red shirted man was nervous about having to answer to thousands of fans live, so it's understandable that he seemed a bit awkward. I honestly would be too. The blue shirted gentleman was patient and concise. All in all, Yu Suzuki was very polite and didn't seem at all bothered about the handling of his Q & A, so that's what's important to me.

In retrospect, some people may say that it could have been more polished, but I also find that in business it makes things easier to work with people who have similar rapport and do not make their colleagues or fan base uncomfortable. I wouldn't have enjoyed it if it were someone who didn't understand the gaming industry and were very stiff and parochial. I just chalk it up to a bad case of nerves for these folks.

As far as the questions go, I think perhaps they were addressing the topics that were being asked ad nauseum and were not clarified before. I'm really excited about Corey Marshall and the possibility of all the original voice-over actors. And it would make me very happy to see the HD releases, if possible. I give Yu Suzuki top marks for trying to make his fans happy... he genuinely cares about what we think and do. It's just a shame that some people cannot reciprocate the same respect for him and his team.

Moreover, in my opinion adding more rewards tiers at the going percentage rate (20-25%) could possibly be detrimental to the production cost, considering that the focus would be put toward producing merchandise rather than the actual game even at the ~72% budget schematic. I worry about that, as I see Suzuki and his team scrambling for more ideas in terms of rewards--- each product is going at a considerable markup to cover the ~25% budget set aside for it. But I also understand the consumer model and know that people would like to be aptly rewarded for their investments.

I truly appreciate Suzuki's incredible display of diplomacy and repose. I think between the immense burden of acquiring the rights, putting together a suitable development + financing + public relations team, and pleasing the prospective buyer, he appears verily composed.

Thanks mjq jazz bar for favouriting my tweet to Michael Huber suggesting he do a Skype Interview with Suzuki

https://twitter.com/resnate/status/614845858916474881

I really love how Corey Marshall is so involved with the Shenmue community. It's great!

I think Sega's worry is if they start promoting the Kickstarter, people will ask them the same questions Sony are being asked now, i.e. why aren't they fully funding this?

Well, we asked them that for 14 years and they gave zero shits.

In a perfect world this project would be funded by 3 parties. Backers, Sony, SEGA.

Awesome Japan have done a truly terrible job.

Firstly the campaign started at too low of a goal. If it had been, say, a 5m target, then we would have 5m+ raised right now. As soon as it hit 2m on the second day, all the urgency was gone. All the publicity was gone. The target had been reached and Shenmue III will be a reality. Yet a week later we find out that 10m is the real goal to aim towards, but who really cares other than us guys? Shenmue III is funded and the story is done and dusted for all the major press...

I'm not going to go into detail about all of the problems with the actual Kickstarter. We all know the video, poor rewards, lack of communication, lack of promotion, lack of description, lack of clarity regarding Sony's involvement etc. have held the project back massively. I actually had a decent level of optimism when I saw that they were doing a Reddit AMA and later a Twitch stream. 'Hey, they're actually promoting via relevant avenues!' I thought. But the AMA got off to a false start and the Twitch 'interview'...oh God...

And then when you realize that these guys, who are managing one of the biggest Kickstarters we're ever going to see, are taking the weekends off... Well all optimism has gone for the KS to reach a target we want. It is quite alarming how naive and incompetent they have been.

When we're sitting down to play Shenmue III and notice all those stretch goals we missed out on, all we'll be thinking is: "fuck you Awesome Japan."

Like... all they needed to do is literally just have 1 person to handle the page, 1 person to handle the rewards, and 1 translator for when Yu Suzuki needs to send a message to the community.

Make like a daily update talking about a different character every day (be it friend or foe, or just one of the funny characters) with some art or hd game screens and a brief presentation. In the last days of the campaign a random guy opens the page and sees a sweet presentation of the Shenmue world, messages from Yu Suzuki explaining the stretch goals, and a crap load of reward tiers he can choose from. Random guy is gonna pledge and tell a friend to check out the page, bingo.

But no, we get fucking 3 idiots that can't even reharse a stream before going live, can't act professionally, and can't even setup a backers only poll without screwing up. And there's still typos in the page, check the description for the 60$ reward, "exlusive".

:((((((

I know they are a pretty easy target. Hell, I am with you on a lot of points and do have my own feelings on the matter also.

But there's always a bigger picture here, and we have a reputation to uphold in regards to being here for Shenmue and Yu Suzuki as a community. We have ran Friday night into the ground and I have no doubts Awesome Japan will have been made aware of the feedback from everyone. But continuing to be negative about it will only keep the fire lit, and make it grow.

My advice is to bury it. We have had a classic moan about it, but nows the time to let them at least try and learn from it. We have just under 3 weeks left so let's see what happens.

Moving on... the kickstarter is picking up a little, I see. Nearly 3 grand in 12 hours. Not quite the 500K some were predicting around here, but better than nothing I suppose. At this rate we're on track to raise another 114K by the end of the campaign. Sweet!

Cedric is a good guy. He will respond and do all he can. But he also will tell it how it is.

People will get their pay checks next week and we have #30onthe3rd next Friday too. Don't get all panicky just yet.

What upsets me most are the people who will only pledge or raise their pledge for better rewards. Considering Yu threw us a life line to get this game made yet they are pushing for rewards for their money sickens me. The only reward you need is Shenmue 3. F*ck everything else.

I can't see where that last line helps at all, why say it . I mean, it will only drive a negative feeling in others to have the same feeling. That's how people work, let's just try our best to reach the goals we want. Why not

It's plenty helpful. It's especially helpful for me so that I no longer get emotionally attached to a game that may or may not be shit. After a long line of years waiting - pretty much a decade in my case - I am coming to terms with the honest to God truth: that Shenmue is cursed. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. If the game turns out well, fine. That'll be nice. But at current trajectory, given every single bit of evidence thrown at the wall, it isn't. And I refuse - REFUSE - to be emotionally attached to a game I've been waiting a decade for that turns out to be shit.

Not one line of code has yet been written and you're already giving up on it. Shenmue isn't cursed, its a great videogame series that sold poorly but has a small dedicated fanbase.

If it was easy to make it rain and gather funds for Shenmue 3, we wouldn't have to wait 14 years for it. As it stands, Shenmue 3 is a reality and will end KS with around $5M plus Sony and Shibuya funds.

After KS, paypal will be open and we will see what we can do. Shenmue is no Castlevania or Megaman and will still outfund them.

Logged back in after many years.

Only saw this great news today. I am sure many die hard shenmue fans who like me are not really gamers and don't follow E3 will still discover this little gem and contribute appropriately to their favorite game.

elmatto wrote: Well I wish I had your guys enthusiasm.
If i'm wrong I'll be elated.

https://twitter.com/CedricBiscay/status ... 8877327360

Biscay, in English wrote: Taking Charge.

2 words - Yu Suzuki.

That's who's hands this project is in. With the original members of the Shenmue series to date. This will look like a Shenmue game. Feel like a Shenmue game. Sound like a Shenmue game. Have environments like a Shenmue game.

I don't give a shit what the final amount is, the money will come from somewhere. The litmus test of the Kickstarter has been successful, with all sorts of records set once again by the franchise. We are all gonna set Shenmue 3, with boxes of Shenmue goodies delivered to our door to boot. Id day it's a safe assumption that Sega will want to grab the easy money and release Shenmue and Shenmue HD in 2016. I'd hazard a guess it's already been green lit. Why wouldn't it?? Sega have money there waiting to be given to them!

It's a fucking fantastic time to be a Shenmue fan, the best time ever! From Kikizo articles, to darkness. From "we'll see" and "I think Sega will let me make it". From photos of Suzuki looking tired and dejected, to photos of forklifts and him walking onto the Sony stage to the fanfare of Sedge Tree. Fuck "we only made 8.5k", and "ooohhh well Bloodstained....". Fuck some goober acting a pillock on camera for an hour!

Sorry for the language but rant over!

It's Shenmue 3!!!!!

I've already pledged $300 but today I won $1,000 on a scratch ticket!! I'm gonna pledge a lot of it on the third. Maybe $700 to bring my total contribution to $1000!! Today is a good day

Its not meant to. It's meant to be a bonus for those who have pledged and keep them informed of how the progress is going and if development is on track.

It could be anything. It's not a big update, it's an interesting one.

Thank Christ I finish work today for 3 days. Gonna be up all night with the GT Shenmue II stream anyways, so gonna be F5'ing the absolute shit outta the KS page.

Hmm, after reading the update, it seems as though all of the tiers above $1k get this reward included, which is a little disappointing to hear since i've got one of the $1k grab bag rewards at the moment, and obviously this ends up being the only premium tier not to include this as a reward then. So for me to get the Corey Marshall voice message, I would either need to spend an additional $1k, and end up with 2 lots of the $500 rewards :( or swap from one tier to the other.
Yea you're right James but then if they gave it to the people on the 1k grab bag reward also there wouldn't be any justification in making it a 1k rewards itself without would it...

Does seem a bit silly though- message them maybe and say can those in the 1k grab bag tier not be given the option of maybe increasing to 1.2k or something to get the Corey message also.

We all know how slow the Kickstarter is going and how it could be improved and whatnot. Sorry but we've had this too many times in the last 10 days or so and there isn't really anything new that can be said about it.

I've already posted this in the Kickstater's comments but it's an interesting bit of trivia that's worth mentioning here as well. I just thought I'd remind everyone of this page: https://www.kickstarter.com/discover/most-funded

It's a list of the all-time most funded campaigns on Kickstarter. With 23 days to go Shenmue 3 already ranks as the 13th most funded campaign of all time. A great achievement by all who are supporting this campaign.

To put things further in perspective, Shenmue 3 is close to overtaking most of the remaining video game Kickstarters. At 3.9 million we beat Mighty No. 9. At 4 million we beat Project Eternity. At 4.2 million we beat Torment: Tides of Numenera. Then Shenmue 3 becomes the 2nd most funded video game Kickstarter ever.

These aren't far off goals, overtaking these three games is well within reach. Just another $600,000 to go. So, spread the word, these symbolic victories might just generate more positive press for Shenmue 3.