ShenmueLegacy wrote: I sense if Shenmue III does sell over a million, IV will be funded, but if it sells over 2 million, there may even be a Shenmue V & Shenmue 0 in the works. If Shenmue III sells over 3 million, Shenmue Online and Shenmue VR may even become real possibilities. Infinite potential.
I'm all for Shenmue having up to a 5th game to get the full story out to fans in the fashion that Yu Suzuki wanted but I think the idea of a prequel and the side games mentioned above becoming a reality could easily take away from the series and make it less special than it is.
If the game becomes successful enough for a 4th and 5th game I would hope that they would simply use the Shenmue 3 build that they are creating now to quickly turn those sequels out to fans. Quickly being 2-3 years between releases. So if Shenmue 3 hits the 2018 mark then the 4th would come out in 2020 with the 5th and final out around 2022-2023 or so. Then of course having the HD Remasters of the first two games before Shenmue 3 releases would be ideal. I can only hope that if the Shenmue series continues on into a 4th and possibly 5th title that they are released on Playstation as well and that the next Playstation is PS4 backwards compatible so that the entire Shenmue series can be played on one platform. For Playstation users... the series could end up looking like the following:
Shenmue 1 HD - PS4 in 2018?
Shenmue 2 HD - PS4 in 2018?
Shenmue 3 - PS4 in 2018?
Shenmue 4 - PS4 and/or PS5 in 2020?
Shenmue 5 - PS5 in 2023?
That said, let's keep our excitement in check and focus on what's not speculation... Shenmue 3 is happening and most of us fans are incredibly excited just for that game being a reality.