Speculation: Shenmue 3 Could've Released in 2003

(Chapter 7 and beyond)

Speculation: Shenmue 3 Could've Released in 2003

Postby Telekill » Thu Sep 28, 2017 4:25 am

I was thinking about the Dreamcast days and how Sega had an incredible first party lineup. Games like Shenmue, Ecco the Dolphin, Sonic Adventure, Space Channel 5, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, etc., etc.... made for an incredible platform. One that I'm sure most of us were sad to see fail when Sega eventually left the console market.

Then I started thinking about the "What Ifs". What if Sega had been successful with Dreamcast? I'm guessing that Dreamcast would have lasted until around 2005 when a possible successor would have released. Then I got to thinking that if the Dreamcast had been successful and lasted until 2005, then we would have had Shenmue 3 probably around the 2003 mark as there was a two year gap between the first and second game; 1st releasing in 1999 and 2nd in 2001.

That means that we would have had this continuation so long ago. We would also have potentially seen a Dreamcast successor release in 2005 with Shenmue IV as a launch title. Can you imagine how awesome that would have been? Dreamcast 2 being backwards compatible would have allowed the entire series to be playable in one place. It would have been a system I cherished for decades when you add in the other first party games that Sega had when they were at the top of the market.

As I was a Sega fan before jumping over to PlayStation (skipped Saturn but loved my Genesis, Game Gear and Dreamcast), the thought of Dreamcast being successful and the possibilities of Shenmue being completed by around 2007 (assuming it would have stopped at the 5th game on the Dreamcast 2), almost makes me a little sad. Hopefully the multiverse theory is correct and somewhere there is a reality where this occurred; not that I'll ever see it. :sad:

What are your thoughts on if Dreamcast had succeeded? Would Shenmue have continued on with a new chapter every couple years? I know it's speculation but it's fun to speculate sometimes.
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Re: Speculation: Shenmue 3 Could've Released in 2003

Postby BlueCreeperBoy12 » Thu Sep 28, 2017 5:05 am

I don't know. Shenmue and Shenmue 2 were both technically commercial failures and they might not have wanted to risk it. But sega back then was different and they might've just said "f*** it. Let's just do it." They did make Shenmue 2, after all. That was a risk.
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Re: Speculation: Shenmue 3 Could've Released in 2003

Postby Yokosuka » Thu Sep 28, 2017 5:36 am

Actually we were supposed to get Shenmue 3 some years afterwards. According Shenmue Master, it was close to be announced at E3 2004 on Xbox stage before Sega just decided to cancel it definitely.

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Re: Speculation: Shenmue 3 Could've Released in 2003

Postby Amir » Thu Sep 28, 2017 7:42 am

Yokosuka wrote: Actually we were supposed to get Shenmue 3 some years afterwards. According Shenmue Master, it was close to be announced at E3 2004 on Xbox stage before Sega just decided to cancel it definitely.


Did we ever find out if that rumour was true or not?
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Re: Speculation: Shenmue 3 Could've Released in 2003

Postby elfshadowreaper » Thu Sep 28, 2017 12:51 pm

BlueCreeperBoy12 wrote: I don't know. Shenmue and Shenmue 2 were both technically commercial failures and they might not have wanted to risk it. But sega back then was different and they might've just said "f*** it. Let's just do it." They did make Shenmue 2, after all. That was a risk.


Wasn’t Shenmue only a commercial failure because the Dreamcast was a commercial failure? I saw a figure somewhere about the number of Shenmue copies sold being a pretty high percentage of the number of consoles sold. Had the Dreamcast sold better naturally Shenmue would have also. And the cost to develop the sequels would have been much cheaper than Shenmue 1.

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