https://youtu.be/GwphQVMDJvY?t=14m30s

For those who don't know, "Awesome Japan" are the company in charge of the Shenmue kickstarter.

Their staff : https://translate.google.fr/translate?sl=ja&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.awesome-japan.com%2Fabout%2F&edit-text=

Some statistics :
- Awesome Japan has "helped" 13 kickstarters prior to this (in a span of 11 months), only 7 were successful
- Only 1 videogame kickstarter ,Soul Knights (ex Nippon Ichi staff), barely met the goal of $60k with only 246 backers
- only 1550 backers and $170k for all their campaigns combined so far
- they had no native english speaker before this kickstarter apparently. All of their previous campaigns had significant spelling and translation mistakes
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=170024411&postcount=800
http://www.gamerevolution.com/features/shenmue-3-kickstarter-confuses-customers-angers-idiots--best-video-game-podcast-ep-5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZm-HzCVzL4

http://i.imgur.com/7CUYMHS.gif

http://i.imgur.com/vfVZ3nT.gif

http://i.imgur.com/vh7TXB6.gif

http://i.imgur.com/6qL7BZU.gif

http://i.imgur.com/bNbCdVc.gif

http://i.imgur.com/URga5dG.gif

http://i.imgur.com/kYR4ZD0.png

http://puu.sh/iE7VL/80a01deae1.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/FwoZ9ZG.png

http://awesomejapan02.sakura.ne.jp/kyujin3.jpg

I'm going through a complete disbelief phase right now, which will pass, but right now, I feel disgusted at the Kickstarter being ran by this "Awesome Japan", that they are handling the KS page and also looking after the rewards etc.

Right now, it's honestly put me off pledging anything.

If that guy has a degree i am Mary Poppins.

Seriously, chances are he was a good-for-nothing that got the job because he can speak both japanese and english.

He has a Twitter profile anyway @Jo3lRT... i know it's bad but i HAD TO tweet him my personal thoughts.

"Excuse me, I'd like to put my project on Kickstarter..."

Yea this sort of harassment and lampooning is super shitty and incredibly immature. If the mods don't care to take this sort of garbage down then I suppose they won't mind my comment. Go fuck yourselves. Are you adults? That's embarrassing. I can understand why the gaming community has a lot people who pull shit like this. It's filled with 30 year old virgins and cynical teenage twerps who rely on escapism to make up for their pathetic lives and so they think its ok to try to humiliate others instead of looking in the mirror at their own mediocrity. A little clue, its not ok. Dude gave me quite the laugh but he just seemed like a harmless hyped Shenmue fan. Like a kid in a toy store and I don't blame him for that. He made what would have otherwise been a pretty dry and boring 50 minutes kind of entertaining. This is why the gaming community is so pathetic. They are just games and you take this shit waaay to seriously. The kickstarter is doing fine btw. If you want to take something serious don't watch gaming news, watch world news and instead of bashing harmless and powerless individuals go full ham on corrupt politicians and corporations. Spend the time making the world a better place instead of harassing insignificant people you worthless twerps. Fuk.

I had the very same thoughts while watching the Q&A stream last night. Many and I mean MANY couldn't stand the circus act we were watching with Yu Suzuki. He's a game designer whom everyone greatly respect in the video game world. He comes back to the public eye after 14 years to give us fans the game we truly want. Are we suppose to just sit back and pretend that was OK? Joel acted like some court jester during the entire interview. He made a complete mockery of Yu Suzuki in front of a live twitch audience. I had to return the favor by creating this very topic.

We are at 3.75 mil with 3 weeks left to go.

That's because we got a huge boost at the beginning due to being advertised on an international stage at Sony's E3 press conference. We essentially started out of the gate with $2 million due to that. However outside of that we have been doing roughly 50% of what bloodstained achieved on a day to day basis. all the projections on Kicktraq now put us at 4 - 4.5 million.

Bloostained Shenmue 3
Day 7 $ 99667 $ 57244
Day 8 $ 84591 $ 44669
Day 9 $ 66261 $ 31074
Day 10 $ 49884 $ 25402
Day 11 $ 57399 $ 25293

A big push is coming on Friday with 30 on the 3rd, probably a lot more big investments with the next round of reward tiers, and of course the last minute bump. All in all it looks like Shenmue is on track to beat Bloodstained.

Bloodstained "last minute bump" was around 150k-200k (if you only take the last few days where the pledge amounts increased) and this was caused by aggressive social media work by the company managing the kickstarter and last minute panic pledging, why would people who have never played the previous two titles in a story heavy franchise panic pledge in the last few days? I think we will see a bump, but no where near as large as Bloodstained.

I also hope the fan led "pledge $30 on the 3rd" works, indeed I think it'll have the same affect the new tiers had yesterday, but even that only brought it in line with Bloodstained normal sustained daily pledge levels and only for one day due to the limited quantities available.

I hope you prove me wrong, I really do... I would love to "insert foot into mouth" on this occasion, but I'd be willing to bet actual cash we won't finish ahead of bloodstained.

Could the KS have been better, maybe. But it's doing relatively great and thus far there's nothing I can really pin on Awesome Japan as having done wrong. The twitch interview included which everyone is taking waaay to seriously. If there's a problem anywhere, its with the people on this forum and this thread in particular, who are being unsatisfiable and entitled cynical assholes who go around harassing and mocking undeserving people.

the whole point of a social media presence by a company tasked with 'promoting' is to encourage people to pledge/buy. Using a cheap camera, low quality microphone, not testing the setup before hand, not having images ready, not using the tools available within twitch to filter out questions and saying "meh going too fast, I give up" after 2 questions, all the while using an unprofessional (possibly high) interviewer isn't the way to do it, they even messed up the Reddit AMA and ended up splitting questions between two totally separate threads.

its not that people are being cynical or 'unsatisfiable' as you put it, its just people expect at least a minimum level of professionalism to put the whole kickstarter in a positive light, which is really needed considering how major media sites are being extremely toxic with misinformed click bait articles.

what I will say is we are getting Shenmue 3 and thats great and we owe it entirely to Sony, allowing Yu Suzuki onto the stage at E3, without that... I'm not entirely sure "Awesome Japan" would have breached 2.5 million yet.

The way the Q&A was handled yesterday was a debacle, that's for certain. However we need to come together as a community and bury it. Let's push forward for the sake of the Kickstarter, Shenmue III and Suzuki-san. At this point we can offer constructive criticism (there is another thread for the Twitch stream) and continue on with our own separate efforts.

I should not need to say this, but I will. We do not support or condone any form of personal attacks within this community. Let's carry on as we always have, positively and respectfully. That is the voice other parties will pay attention to, respect and trust. Thank you.

How about a new hashtag? #FireAwesomeJapanOnThe3rd

I've bitten down on my criticism of this Twitch stream thus far, as negativity and losing of focus are not the things you really want in the middle of a campaign. But suffice to say, the communications and Kickstarter management through Awesome Japan, from things like the delay and confusion on the Reddit posting and timing and right the way through to this stream have been completely lackluster. YS Net themselves are a Japanese team, presumably working hard right now on development, who need a bridge between themselves and the global community. That bridge, when you're talking about millions of dollars and thousands of backers, needs to be airtight. It seems like Awesome Japan are comprised of about three people and one, now infamous, native speaker. The Kickstarter page has about 21,000 comments, largely in English. They couldn't even get through any follow up questions on the stream and cut it short.

But I don't think now is the time for a postmortem of what went wrong. We need momentum and to move forward. Hiring a new PR team at this stage is out of the question, if not for the matter of fees alone.

I've noticed that Cedric Biscay, as co-producer, has been pretty solid and professional in following up when asked. He insisted on direct answers and clarity to the fans. As soon as someone said to him, move the stretch goals to the top of the page, it happened almost immediately. They seem to on point and they've just got their Japanese office. Biscay is the CO-PRODUCER of the game. I think they need to absorb AJ's operation into their own and co-ordinate it themselves, or at least TAKE CHARGE of it. It's the most economical option I can think of.

Biscay on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CedricBiscay

Shibuya Productions: https://twitter.com/ShibuyaProd

elmatto wrote: You guys are being unrealistic if you think Awesome japan is going to be replaced.

if shenmue 3 is possible then why not this?

Since I already have the 5000 dollars pledge timex watch, I am sharing pictures again just in case someone else wants to grab it and dont get confused with the other watch.

http://s28.postimg.org/5yhzaetq5/DSC_0112.jpg

http://s28.postimg.org/ift8bbe9p/DSC_0113_2.jpg

http://s28.postimg.org/zexlcu03h/DSC_0117.jpg

This one is set as one of a kind for the Kickstarter but there's actually more than one. We do not have the exact number but its less than 200. I've seen like 5-10 of these in the past 10 years.

The 2 others are probably as rare as the one I've posted above, but they look kinda cheap.

I can tell you she didn't pay me any god damn licensing fees to use my theme!

Since I have one of those turbo controllers laying around here again...

Guys, I've been working feverishly today to get this site up. It's collaboration between me and my wife. She does the design, I do the coding. I think we make a good team. So, as you tweet and share about $30 on the 3rd please direct people to this website that will explain the campaign to people who may not understand:

http://www.30onthe3rd.com/

^I feel like the Guilin section of Shenmue is going to the equivalent of the training montage from Rocky. All we need to do is find Shenhua a bike and we're golden.

Everyone should tweet to Yu Suzuki and Cedric Biscay for Joel Tess as NPC in Shenmue III. I saw a few tweets for that. He should be drinking a Fanta of course.

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 just put up two additional languages on the $30 on the 3rd site. Thanks to sand4fish and PacemaŜinobo for translating the info to French and Portuguese. Please share the site to your friends who speak one of those languages if they don't speak English. I'll add more languages if someone wants to translate the text for me. Languages are selected right above the text about the campaign.

Thanks!

Shenmue III will open with the 2 giant mirrors rolling back to reveal a tomb filled with piles of carrots far as the eye can see.

Ryo will have to protect his carrot horde from the Chi-You-Men.

Lan Di: Do you remember this carrot?

Iwao: Carrot?

Lan Di: This is the carrot you used to kill Sun Ming Zhao!

Iwao: It can't be... that carrot!!

Lan Di: Get up, I'm going to stick this carrot where the sun don't shine!

Iwao: Forgive me.. for making you.. eat..

Ryo: Wha.. what are you saying?! Father!

Iwao: Your carrots... keep carrots... those you eat.... away from your bum.

Right guys after the embarassing twitch interview Yu Suzuki had recently with Awesome Japan, I thought of an intricate idea in order to help promote Shenmue in a better way. Even though I believe most of the questions regarding the content of Shenmue 3 or kickstarter project have been asked.

It would be great if we could do an interview/live Q&A session with Yu Suzuki via google hangouts. The session can be hosted exclusively by Shenmue dojo or we can get a member from each the dojo, Shenmue Masters and team Yu to take part in the session alongside Yu Suzuki.

Maybe if we can tweet Cedric Biscay or Yu Suzuki himself to see if we can get something set up because I would really love to do this the right way and give Shenmue better awareness.

The format should be set up in the following way:
1) Yu Suzuki - Humble Beginnings!
2) Ascension of 3D gaming ala Virtua Fighter and Shenmue.
3) Shenmue 1 and 2
4) Shenmue 3 and kickstarter project.
5) Future of Shenmue
6) Q & A session for fans

http://i.imgur.com/2Z4zDWy.jpg

We've been communicating with Lisle Wilkerson over the announcement of Shenmue III and she's just as happy as all of us that it is going to become a reality. Below is a personal message from her to all of the fans.

“Hey Shenmue fans!!! It’s Lisle Wilkerson, the English voice actor for Xiuying Hong, Joy, and Yuan from Shenmue II.
Just wanted to say THANK YOU for all your undying support over the years! I have always loved running into Shenmue fans at the cons I go to around the world.

And I know that you guys have been waiting for Shenmue III for a VERY LONG TIME! So I am so very happy that you guys are finally getting it!!!

Hopefully we will be able to be a part of the Shenmue III game. : )

It is a VERY happy day! xoxo Lisle"

Nice, hey, new banners here http://imgur.com/a/PplsJ

I tweeted Michael Huber and GameTrailers about doing a Skype interview w/ Suzuki-san, seems they're trying



https://twitter.com/MichaelPHuber/statu ... 1038273536

I made attempts at contacting the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter team regarding the explanation of stretch goals, new rewards, VO choice and budget, redoing the video campaign, the reason for the choice of multiple playable characters and how to reel in the general gaming community when most never even heard of the first two games.

My plead yielded the following reply:


Hello,

Very sorry for not getting back sooner! Ok, here we go:
Stretch Goals - Thank you! We are working on it! Trying to be more specific with the SGs and will try to get the explanations moved over. Mr. Suzuki does not want to get too deep without giving all the story away!
Mirrors - Trying!
Video - Still very early development, so there is not much game footage yet. As for scene requests... I think we will have to leave that up to Mr. Suzuki. Again can't give away the story!
At the current stage of funding, it is still hard to know how much voicing there will be. There have been lots of comments for language switching and Mr. Suzuki is aware of the situation.
Why multiple characters? Mr. Suzuki has stated this is one of the things that he really wants to do with Shenmue 3. Will definitely let him know though!
Why care about Shenmue 3? Got it. You are very right. Top priority now getting the message across. We will have the page updated soon.
More rewards? Yes working on them now. Thank you for the ideas!

Thank you very much, please keep your ideas coming, because they will keep us going forward.

Joel &
the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter Team


PS. I did not question the integrity of the work done by his team, because I believe it's counter-productive and unnecessary at this point.

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t31.0-8/11010997_10152955672747544_5478721976921364530_o.jpg

Hey guys, I just wanted to give you all a heads up (and perhaps a front page worthy post) of another podcast we're doing This Friday July 3rd at 9 pm. CT (7 pm PST). We will have a very special SEGA Nerdcast featuring Corey Marshall (Ryo Hazuki), Eric Kelso (Ren, Fuku-san, Guizhang), and Lisle Wilkerson (Xiuying, Joy, Yuan)!

Lisle also helped us get into contact with Paul Lucas, who has voiced Lan Di and Chai. Hope to see you guys there!


Just like last time, if you have any questions you'd like to ask any one of them, or a group question or whatnot, post them below and we'll try to ask them on the show!

Even if small, it's effecting the campaign in some way. People love to think they're on the inside of information, the ignorant believe in conspiracy theorist ramblings that 2+2=5, throw them a bone and they'll go after it. The second the mainstream gets a hold of information like this, they think they know better and see it as another major corporation trying to screw them. Again, even if small, every bit counts and this is definitely a negative that we don't need. The point that it's still occurring is baffling.

I don't think Shenmue II was too big, I think the game needed to be to truly convey Ryo's journey from "hometown" to foreign metropolis. The player should feel lost at first. But I do think SII's epic size detracted from the intricate details which made Shenmue so immersive. For me, NPC routines, Ryo's forklift job, waiting (whether you like it or not) made the original game feel more like an "experience", almost a life simulator (well, for a 1999 videogame anyway).

The terrible jobs in II and overly helpful NPC's sorta dented the true "immersion factor" for me. I know HK / Kowloon are big environments, but the NPC guide feature felt really strange. Who guides a complete stranger across 3 Quarters, walking 5 paces ahead of them and making no conversation? Apparently everyone!

Detail / scope is a trade off I guess. I know I'm dreaming now, but if they can balance the size of II with the immersion of I in Shenmue III, I'll die happy.

No there are some things that aren't quite clear.

Is the PS4 exclusivity already decided if so why not clarify it in the FAQ?

Will there be a choice between Japanese and English dubs?

Who are current potential candidates for developing the PC port?

Short answer will Shenmue III contain VF style battles or not?


Among other things.

http://i.imgur.com/zFOlFS6.jpg

A new teaser trailer for the upcoming Shenmue documentary was released today. A film by Adam Sipione and Definitive Films. Please share this video everywhere!

Links & Hashtags: #SaveShenmue #10milliontoShenmue3
Shenmue Documentary Trailer | Fauxpop Media | Shenmue 3 Kickstarter

Crying.... yep. Just like i was when Shenmue 3 was announced.

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j290/PeterC2005/Shenmue%203%20dinner_zpsnssnyjmg.png

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j290/PeterC2005/Mobile%20Uploads/Screenshot_2015-07-03-17-11-23_zpsfisfrbbt.png

I'M GOING TO MEET YU SUZUKI IN MONACO!! FUCK!!

Dude if you gotta pull out, pull out. I don't think anyone would be mad at you for it.

You gotta be kidding me if you think I'm going to click that. Kotaku should be put out of business.

You should copy and paste the article contents because I'm not going to click that shit.

For those that don't want to click.

This article is by Jason Schreier, He is not the author of the cover art article, that was Phil Owen.

One day in late 2013, I woke up to dozens of e-mails and Twitter messages from people with accounts like “@Shenmue5K” and “@SaveShenmue.” They wanted me to help them save Shenmue, a video game series I’d barely heard of.

I’d just interviewed Sony VP of publisher/developer relations Adam Boyes at the PS4 launch event, see, and he’d brought up Shenmue as one of the top entries on their big list of third-party games to revive on PlayStation platforms. Given that the last Shenmue game came out in 2001—and that the chances of us ever seeing a third game seemed beyond dismal—the mention came as a shock to a whole lot of Shenmue fans. Loud Shenmue fans.

“Please help us save Shenmue,” they’d tweet at me, at Boyes, and at anyone else who would listen. Again. And again. And again and again and again.

Two years later, these hardcore fans have finally pulled it off. Against all odds—and thanks to the crowdfunding power of Kickstarter, a platform that mitigates creators’ financial risk by placing it in the hands of tens of thousands of fans—Shenmue III is actually happening. Well, it’s theoretically happening—some Kickstarters never quite come to fruition, and skepticism is usually warranted. (At the very least, we should be skeptical of that “December 2017” estimated release date—almost all Kickstarter games are delayed beyond their estimated targets.)

Forget about the drawbacks of crowdfunding for a second, though. Think about how remarkable it is that this is even a possibility. When Shenmue and its sequel came out in 1999 and 2001, respectively, rumors pegged them as two of the most expensive games ever made. Although Shenmue II ended on a brutal cliffhanger, director Yu Suzuki had trouble getting a third game off the ground, and over the following years he’d suffer through multiple Shenmue III cancellations before finally leaving Sega in 2011. (In 2010 he released Shenmue City, a Japan-only social game that nobody wanted and that would go on to close after a year.)

The first game sold well; the second didn’t. But they both resonated with people, and somehow, after years upon years of teasing and speculation, Suzuki has A) put together a licensing agreement with Sega; B) convinced Sony to help publish; and C) launched a Kickstarter that became the fastest ever to hit $1 million. This all for a Sega Dreamcast series most people have never heard of—a series that was trending on Twitter throughout the first two days of E3.

It’s only because of those crazy Shenmue fans—the ones with weird Twitter handles and incessant pestering messages—that a third game is happening. If Shenmue fans weren’t so outspoken, constantly bugging Boyes on Twitter and reminding Suzuki that, yes, there are people still waiting to see the end of Ryo Hazuki’s story, there’s no way any of this could’ve occurred. Shenmue would’ve just been another casualty of the Japanese game industry.

I’ve never played any of the Shenmue games, but I can certainly relate to the attachment. Back in the 90s, I discovered a series with an even worse title that would also go on to become a cult classic: Suikoden. Suikoden changed my life. Suikoden II, chock full of translation gaffes and errors, made me realize that video games can tell emotionally resonant stories in a way no other medium can. Suikoden III persuaded me to fake sick and stay home from school for a week. Suikoden IV was kinda disappointing, sure, but Suikoden V was a true return to form, and I spent the two weeks before its official release date calling my local game store just to see if they’d maybe by some chance gotten an early copy? The series grabbed me in ways that nothing else really has.
Why You Should Play Suikoden II, One Of The Best RPGs Ever Made

For a certain subset of gamers, today is big. Really big. Like, the biggest day in years.
Read more

Like Shenmue, the Suikoden series remains unfinished—all five games have left loose threads and teased an ultimate showdown that never came—and the publisher, Konami, has no interest in bringing it back. Yet… if, somehow, Suikoden director Yoshitaka Murayama popped up out of nowhere and announced plans to Kickstart Suikoden VI, there would immediately be a pile of bricks directly under wherever I was sitting at the time. If you ever see a Kotaku article with my byline and the title “HOLY FUCK HOLY FUCK HOLY FUCK,” it’s probably Suikoden VI.

So I can sympathize when, say, Shenmue fans react negatively to a piece like the post one of our guest-writers ran on Friday about the new Kickstarter’s placeholder box art and what that art may have signaled about the quality of the overall Shenmue Kickstarter effort. I empathize with what hardcore fans have been through—14 years is a long time to wait!—and I totally get why they were so pissed off at Kotaku last week. For a while now, in their eyes, it’s felt like some people have looked for any opportunity to crap on high-profile Kickstarters like this one, which is a slap in the face to those fans who have been waiting a decade and a half for Shenmue III to happen.

There are some healthy skeptical questions to ask here, of course: Do Suzuki and crew realize, for example, just how much time and money they’ll have to spend on the dinners and other swag rewards they’ve promised? Suzuki says they’d need to hit $5 million for “one of the things I really want to do with Shenmue 3 [to] become a reality” — why such a seemingly arbitrary number? Why do they need to hit $10 million to make it “truly” an open world? And will they ever tell fans exactly how much money they’re getting from outside sources?

In the coming months, as curious journalists and passionate fans follow this remarkable story—and it is a remarkable story, no matter what else happens—we’ll be watching for delays, for obstacles, for budget issues. We’ll be probing Suzuki and crew to be transparent about their process and their finances. And I’ll be paying particularly close attention to what has become the most compelling part of this story: how fans made something impossible happen.

That said… please stop tweeting at me to #saveshenmue. You’ve already saved it. Promise.

You can reach the author of this post at [email protected] or on Twitter at @jasonschreier.

This is amazing! I'll be sure to write up an article on my SEGA Nerds site and Gamnesia site to get the word out there.

Looks like the story is starting to gain some momentum! I'm glad this caught his attention.

https://twitter.com/CedricBiscay/status ... 9781383168

Yu Suzuki's Kickstarter for Shenmue III has climbed its way past Torment: Tides of Numenera to claim its place as the second highest funded video game on the crowdfunding website.

With regard to all Kickstarter projects, Shenmue III currently stands as the 10th most funded campaign.

The project, which still has another 11 days left in its campaign, is currently sitting at $4.3 million in funding, trailing behind Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, the current leader in the video game category, with a whopping $5.5 million.

Just last week, we learned that the original Shenmue voice actor will be returning for this third installment. Additionally, PlayStation 4 owners will now be able to get a physical version as one of the campaign's newly-added reward tiers.

Some recognition from the gaming media without the usual Backlashing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDsGVNILB1o
Source: IGN

Well, props to Awesome Japan they really are putting some work, a tier between 500 and 1k was much needed. And the 80$ tier will make many 60$ backers up their pledge.

Now we just need the damn new hype video and maybe a stretch goal between 5.1 and 6m for the final rush.

Is there any word from passing on PAYPAL when the KS ends?

I doubt you'll hear any word on it. They want as many people as possible to fund the Kickstarter. If they announced that they'll accept donations and offer rewards after the KS ends, then they'd be no sense of urgency and it could put people off donating in the next 10 days.

They probably want to keep quiet on it so that those who haven't pledged yet will think "shit, I better donate before it's too late".

Being a degenerate gambler.