'Shenmue 3' Is Officially The Most Crowdfunded Game On Kickstarter

After Ys Net surprised the masses by announcing “Shenmue 3” as a Kickstarter project during this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, fans will be happy to know that the game has made $6.3 million. Not only has “Shenmue 3” beaten its original goal of gaining $2 million, it also has become the most-funded video game in Kickstarter history, beating the $5.5 million that “Bloodstained” made earlier this year.

While the first two “Shenmue” games have a passionate fan base, Engadget suspected that it was the E3 announcements by Ys Net that led to the game’s massive Kickstarter success. It has been reported that “Shenmue 3” already had beaten its Kickstarter goal nine hours after the announcement. Considering that the previous record-breaker, “Bloodstained,” wasn’t announced on E3 and still made $5.5 million also shows how nostalgia factored into the game’s success.

A report from Forbes has shown some concern for the game’s success, not because the game won’t be good, but the possible involvement of a third-party publisher and the Kickstarter money made could lead to developers overspending on the game. It’s entirely possible that won’t be the case, but considering that “Broken Age” from Double Fine had to be separated into two parts after making more money than expected, the same scenario for "Shenmue 3" could reportedly lead to some odd decisions being made.

Still, that doesn’t mean fans shouldn’t be excited about the upcoming open-world role-playing game (RPG) that started its life on the Sega Dreamcast. “Shenmue” helped games of the RPG genre break barriers with open world and also brought quick time events (QTE) to the game industry, for better or worse.

Another noteworthy aspect about “Shenmue 3” is that it will be the series’ debut on a Sony console, just like CD Projekt Red’s “The Witcher 3.” The previous installment in the series, “Shenmue 2,” was an exclusive title to the original Xbox.

According to the game’s Kickstarter campaign, the estimated time for the arrival of “Shenmue 3” is December 2017, so fans are in for a long wait.

Shenmue 3 - Lake of the Lantern Bugs (Credit: YouTube/Shenmue 3 Official)