Shenmue 3 to Prioritize Story Over Graphics

Yu Suzuki is one of the most influential and beloved figures throughout video gaming history and responsible for creating the Shenmue series. Shenmue’s bizarre gameplay, beautiful music score and stunning world creates a joyous experience which feels so unique. While perceived as a cult classic, Shenmue I and II hold up remarkably well in 2015 and look fantastic using a VGA cable on the SEGA Dreamcast. For many years, fans implored SEGA to produce a sequel, but the publisher probably felt it was too niche or overly expensive.

Thanks to crowdfunding, Shenmue’s emotionally-charging story can finally continue after years of disappointment regarding SEGA’s inactivity. Although, there has been some concerns about Shenmue 3’s budget and lack of funds to create a proper sequel. Yu Suzuki addressed these reservations in an interview with Eurogamer and said:

“The game itself doesn’t have to be gorgeous visually – a lot of the money these days goes into the graphics. If we perhaps compromise on the graphics and put more into the story, we can make a good game.”

“Kickstarter’s not the only source of money,” says Suzuki. “There’s also funding from Sony and Shibuya Productions. Before we started Kickstarter, we had goals set around the budget – so if we only got $6 million, we’d create Shenmue 3 based upon what we could do with that $6 million.”

Firstly, Shenmue’s narrative has to take priority as the game’s theme is story-driven and doesn’t really depend on graphical quality. However, comments like this makes me think the game is being developed on a shoe-string budget. At least, Suzuki has clarified Sony’s involvement in the project and the source of additional funding. This is vital as the current PayPal donations are not amounting to a large amount of money.

Thank you Eurogamer for providing us with this information.