Despite rumors circulating about Shenmue 4 in development, Yu Suzuki insists that he has no plans for the title.
Shenmue first debuted on the Sega Dreamcast in 1999 and is often considered one of the first open world games.
The Shenmue series received an unexpected revival recently with the release of Shenmue: The Animation, an anime project developed in partnership between Sega, Adult Swim, Crunchyroll, and YS Net. The anime, which began production during Shenmue 3’s development, recently ended its airing, and has been well received by both longtime fans and newcomers to the series. Recently rumors have started circulating suggesting that Shenmue 4 could be announced as soon as the anime airs, however series creator Yu Suzuki stated in an interview that there is “no plan” specific plan” for the fourth game.
Shenmue first debuted on the Sega Dreamcast in 1999 and is generally considered one of the first open-world games, providing a full rendition of Japanese towns with a level of detail unparalleled for a game of the same time. This was followed by a 2001 debut with Shenmue 2, which sent protagonist Ryo Hazuki to Hong Kong on a quest to avenge his father’s death. The series was later canceled at this point because Sega was not interested in spending the millions of dollars needed to produce a third installment, and Shenmue 3 quickly became one of the game’s sequels. The most requested video game of all time.
In 2015, series creator Yu Suzuki kicked off a Kickstarter campaign for Shenmue 3 with his YS Net studio, and the game raised over $6.3 million in crowdfunding, continuing continues to be the most successful Kickstarter video game to date. The game was released in 2019 to mixed critical reception, but publisher Deep Silver was pleased with the game’s sales.
Yu Suzuki in a new interview with Famitsu has stated that there are no concrete plans for Shenmue 4.
Recently, the publisher Wanted: Dead 110 Industries began revealing its involvement in a possible Shenmue 4 title. The publisher started off by sharing cryptic messages implied. that the reason Yu Suzuki attended the Tokyo Game Show presentation was because of the event related to Shenmue 4, and further fueled fan speculation by sharing vague hints regarding the series. Shenmue. However, Yu Suzuki broke the atmosphere around this speculation, as in a new interview with Famitsu he stated that there are no concrete plans for Shenmue 4.
He explained that if the game was made, he wanted it to be “more accessible” to new people. He created Shenmue 3 mainly to attract old fans because the game was funded through Kickstarter. Suzuki believes this makes newcomers feel like they’re being “left behind”, and believes that making Shenmue 4 a more accessible title will help improve sales compared to Shenmue. 3.
It seems that at least for now Shenmue 4 is still a long way from being released. Many gamers believed that Shenmue 4 would not take as long as Shenmue 3 to develop based on YS Net’s new understanding of Unreal Engine 4 and the reusability of resources from Shenmue 3 that streamlines the cycle. develope. Even so, it seems that Shenmue 4 has yet to have any plans or intentions.
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