Kickstarter Update 51: Poll Results & Shenmue.link revamp

[Amir]

If you don't like the look of Shenmue III, you're free not to play it, but there was no other way this game was getting made.

I am not happy with how Shenmue 3 is being handled. I know there's no other way it'd be getting made, but judging from how gloomy things are currently looking, there's also no way we'll live long enough to see another one getting made.

Check out indie projects like Armikrog and Mighty No.9 and see what I mean.

I feel the same about those projects as well; for years there was so sign of a sequel to The Neverhood, so it was either Armikrog or nothing. Capcom didn't seem to have faith in the Megaman franchise, so Inafune went to Kickstarter to create Mighty No. 9. It was either these games or seemingly nothing.

[Reprise]

I'll admit, my excitement of Shenmue III has decreased by 30% after seeing this pool BS.
If they pull something like this again, i might just forget it honestly....

I didn't wait 14 years for this...

I wonder if these clowns passing feedback to Suzuki are the same ones who thought fans want the forklift back in Shenmue 3 or for (Shenmue 3 spoilers)

Chai to return in Shenmue 3. This will completely ruined the sense of satisfaction many of us got from beating him in Shenmue 1.

I'd be pretty keen for Chai to return... It's not like we saw him die at the end of Shenmue 1. They left it open for his return. Plus, we know he was supposed to be in the start of Shenmue 2, but the chapter/scene was cut.

[Yokosuka]

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/some-p ... 0-6433479/

So it goes.

Hopefully people are not going to believe that the current paypal rewards will be retired. This story has really the potential to hurt the campaign more than it should.

[Jibby]

What a ridiculous overreaction some posters are having to this. Sure, it could have been handled better but I think people are forgetting what the big picture is here.

[mjq jazz bar]

I mean funding was supposed to end a few days ago, so they've already made more than the would've originally.
My only worry is the stuff about the PC version.

[ianpm31]

If you don't like the look of Shenmue III, you're free not to play it, but there was no other way this game was getting made.

I am not happy with how Shenmue 3 is being handled. I know there's no other way it'd be getting made, but judging from how gloomy things are currently looking, there's also no way we'll live long enough to see another one getting made.

Check out indie projects like Armikrog and Mighty No.9 and see what I mean.

Nobody but a very small crowd of people are going to remember this a yr or 2 down the line. What people will remember are the future trailers, impending demo, and work being done on the game. The final product of the game will determine if we get another one as well as sales expectations being met. When we start seeing real progress and get a true trailer of the game (if it looks good) all this shit will get thrown out the window. Once again, I think you are over-exaggerating.

Also, Yu Suzuki said earlier if sales are good enough he believes they will not need to take the kickstarter route with S4.

[James Brown]

What a ridiculous overreaction some posters are having to this. Sure, it could have been handled better but I think people are forgetting what the big picture is here.

People are overreacting definitely, but just had this conversation from a friend which shows how damanging this news has been and this will have effected more people in a similar way -

[18:20:15] Eric: Wow... Yu Suzuki is actually going back on his word regarding giving PayPal donors the same stuff as kickstarter donors, even though he said they would?
[18:35:25] James Brown: it's not yu suzuki
[18:35:35] James Brown: it's awesome japan - who aren't very awesome
[18:35:52] James Brown: and they pay pal donors are getting the same stuff
[18:36:11] Eric: Heh?
[18:36:19] James Brown: it was just a question of whether or not they would get even more of the kickstarter stuff, like the face in the game exclusives, and stuff like that
[18:36:39] James Brown: every reward on the paypal site is the same tiers as the kickstarter
[18:36:48] James Brown: and they've been the same since the paypal went live
[18:37:24] Eric: Greg just told me about how they did a poll... And they went with the minority of whatever the poll was for lol
[18:37:35] James Brown: yeah they did, which was stupid
[18:37:44] James Brown: but that was awesome japan not yu suzuki
[18:37:52] James Brown: they're awful lol
[18:38:10] James Brown: but basically the poll was for the extra kickstarter rewards that they didn't list on the paypal site
[18:38:43] James Brown: such as the international phone card dlc, or the kickstarter exclusive sleeve for the game, or your name on a Chinese plaque in the game, just stuff like that
[18:39:11] Eric: Man this is so stupid
[18:39:27] James Brown: they shouldn't have even mentioned it really, but in doing so, they offered up the idea to people who missed out on kickstarter
[18:39:30] James Brown: so they gave them a poll
[18:39:43] James Brown: and 4000+ said no to letting paypal people have their rewards added
[18:39:48] James Brown: 4000+ said yes
[18:39:56] Eric: I am glad I didn't end up contributing because I was already mad before... Now I would be super ticked off lol
[18:39:57] James Brown: and 10,000 said they don't care
[18:40:13] James Brown: so basically because the yes or no options were very similar
[18:40:39] James Brown: they felt that there was too much demand for the fans that pledged in the kickstarter that they wanted their rewards to be exclusive
[18:40:44] James Brown: I can see where they were coming from
[18:40:59] James Brown: but in theory, technically, it was the minority group
[18:41:13] Eric: This poll makes their word meaningless.
[18:41:17] Eric: Because they already made promises.
[18:41:28] James Brown: but yeah, even though it was the minority, they still felt that there was too many people who wouldn't be happy
[18:41:28] Eric: It is not right.
[18:41:41] James Brown: they didn't make any promises for the extra rewards
[18:41:46] James Brown: that's what the poll was for
[18:42:17] James Brown: people have taken it out of context thinking that all the rewards on the paypal site aren't going to be fulfilled
[18:42:22] Eric: Greg and I think this is probably a way to grab more money without having to actually spend money on extra resources and admin. Which is shameful.
[18:42:40] James Brown: but they meant the kickstarter exclusive stuff...you know what I mean?
[18:42:51] Eric: According to them they DID make a promise.
[18:43:03] James Brown: nah not at all, infact it's the opposite
[18:43:20] James Brown: if they'd have just added those extra kickstarter rewards they would be looking to make more money
[18:43:32] Eric: "Considering the strong response from those of you who felt that the Exclusive Rewards should remain exclusive for the Kickstarter, those Exclusive Rewards will not be made available on the PayPal page as originally promised."
[18:43:36] Eric: Where did this come from?
[18:43:39] James Brown: which part did you think they promised about?
[18:43:56] James Brown: yeah that's just bad wording
[18:44:01] Eric: Lol
[18:44:34] James Brown: they didn't promise that they would definitely make the exclusive rewards available, they wanted to see what the response from the people who backed in the kickstarter wanted
[18:44:50] James Brown: the poll was only sent via email to the kickstarter pledgers
[18:45:18] James Brown: and because a large chunk of people said no, that's why they wanted to be faithful
[18:47:33] Eric: There is nothing you could tell me right now that would convince me that this is a group of people who know what they are doing. This is wrong on many levels...
[18:48:33] James Brown: I agree, but it's not Yu Suzuki, the team responsible for the kickstarter and the emails and messages, and all the crappy images they're using, the font, and spelling errors etc are Awesome Japan
[18:48:36] James Brown: who everyone hates
[18:48:46] James Brown: and wish they'd have fired them after the original twitch stream
[18:48:48] James Brown: which was horrible
[18:49:05] James Brown: but the fact is you get everything you want out of pledging towards the kickstarter / paypal
[18:49:10] James Brown: you get the game
[18:49:25] James Brown: you're paying for the game, whether you do it now or when it's released
[18:49:37] James Brown: but if you buy it right now, the funds will help Yu make the game better
[18:49:43] Eric: Yu Suzuki can do something about this.
[18:49:49] James Brown: he might
[18:49:55] James Brown: cedric Biscay is on the fans side
[18:50:07] James Brown: and he's spoken before about the poorness of awesome japan on certain things
[18:50:11] James Brown: they'll fix this
[18:50:15] James Brown: but the damage is already done
[18:50:20] James Brown: hence yours and gregs reaction
[18:50:20] Eric: Sounds to me like if you buy it the funds will just go towards dlc that you will also have to buy again -_-
[18:50:46] Eric: I am very angry about it.
[18:51:58] James Brown: lol not sure where you get that from, they're shouldn't be any dlc, the only reward that was "dlc" in a sense was the kickstarter exclusive where you can dial friends and family from the first 2 games and have a little conversation with them. if it's such a big dlc it won't be blocked from everyone, but that by no means means they are going down an ea route

[johnvivant]

What a ridiculous overreaction some posters are having to this. Sure, it could have been handled better but I think people are forgetting what the big picture is here.

thats right.

this only affects 3 rewards;
-International phone card (in-game item) $80
-Digital upgrade - wallpapers etc. $39
- Dreams come true - $1400 - choose a wish to be displayed in a temple in bailu village

the international phone card is probably the sorest loss because its likely that many would have added this to their preorder, but 'dreams come true' might never have been added to PP anyway considering that they haven't added the other similarly priced tiers that were not KS exclusive.

it is a shame these rewards can't be made available to backers who want them and thereby increase shenmue 3's funding, but there is not much we can do about it now. they have made their decision. time to move on.

[Spaghetti]

When all things are said and done, this will have likely blown over by the time February's update rolls around. It's just very frustrating to know AJ are still prone to gaffes like this.

[James Brown]

I think we just need to realise the final games funding total is pretty much how it reads right now because I don't expect many more pledges from this point on.

[Henry Spencer]

Awesome Japan sure are doing an awesome job at making PR disasters for Shenmue 3. Fucking hell, they sure know how to get the journalists typing away about this. It's easy pickings for them thanks to AJ, really.

[James Brown]

@James Brown : lol so your friend ended by expecting a DLC campaign. It's even worse

[Amir]

Awesome Japan sure are doing an awesome job at making PR disasters for Shenmue 3. Fucking hell, they sure know how to get the journalists typing away about this. It's easy pickings for them thanks to AJ, really.

Tbf, I can imagine the same clickbait rags going with "Shenmue III Kickstarter "Exclusives" No Longer Exclusive" in the other scenario.

[Let's Get Sweaty]

Hopefully people are not going to believe that the current paypal rewards will be retired.

I've been putting out fires all day, including talking someone out of a PayPal buyer protection claim he'd filed to refund his $500 donation, furiously thinking he was no longer going to receive the rewards he'd paid for.

[James Brown]

Awesome Japan sure are doing an awesome job at making PR disasters for Shenmue 3. Fucking hell, they sure know how to get the journalists typing away about this. It's easy pickings for them thanks to AJ, really.

I honestly don't care if it looks bad, but something has to be done about AJ, they clearly don't know what it is they're supposed to be doing. Again, if they keep up the screw ups, it will do damage because it will feed the Anti-Shenmue gaming media and troll brigade and drive those who might have been overall sympathetic onto their side. And from watching other KS campaigns involving games, PR, from my perspective, is just as important as actually developing the game. If it starts off real bad, it's not going to get better.

EVERYONE ELSE: I am not one of those that are overreacting. However, I am one of those who worry seriously about image when it comes to this game and it's imperative to keep that from getting too tarnished.