Fans of the old Sega Dreamcast who want to know if Ryo Hazuki will ever settle the score with Lan Di have voted with their wallets to see another Shenmue game. The Shenmue 3 Kickstarter campaign surpassed its goal of $2 million just hours after launching. The campaign kicked off at 6:51 p.m. PT Monday during the Sony PlayStation keynote address at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. The game exceeded its goal early Tuesday morning and currently has more than 32,900 backers who have donated more than $2.5 million.
Shenmue is one of the most talked-about series in gaming history. It was created by famed developer Yu Suzuki and brought to the ill-fated Sega Dreamcast in 1999. The game was first envisioned as a multi-part epic detailing the life of protagonist Ryo Hazuki. The first title, which delivered a compelling storyline as Hazuki tried to avenge his father’s death at the hands of antagonist Lan Di, was popular with gamers. Shenmue 2, a follow-up to the original game, launched on the Dreamcast in 2001 and Xbox in 2002, but was not nearly as popular as its predecessor.
Sega, which published both titles, decided to shelve the franchise, even though the second game never provided an end to the storyline. Over the last 14 years, gamers around the world have used petitions, fan sites and social media to call for a continuation of the Shenmue franchise. Each time, Sega rebuffed their overtures, focusing instead on other software properties, like Sonic.
Sony shocked video game fans during its E3 keynote on Monday when it announced that the Shenmue series was alive and would come to the company’s PlayStation 4 console. Yu Suzuki then came on stage to officially launch the Kickstarter campaign for the game.
