Shenmue III Still Wants Your Money, Starts Slacker Backer Campaign

Developer Ys Net still wants your money to develop Shenmue III after amassing $6.5 million in funding through its Kickstarter campaign which ended this July.

A slacker backer campaign has been posted today on its official website, which will be open until the end of year, and was created due to "a response to all of the requests [they] have received asking for another opportunity to participate in the making of Shenmue III because either of a lack of payment options on Kickstarter, or just not having a chance to pledge before the campaign ended."

While $6.5 million would seem to be quite a large number already, the campaign has stretch goals upwards of $11 million, with expanded battle systems, betting games, and mini-games.

At the $3,000 donation level, you can obtain a replica of Ryo's signature jacket or, for $8,000, the original jacket that Masaya Matsukaze wore at press events 14 years ago. $5,000 will net you a nice replica of Ryo's watch. But I imagine the bulk of donations will go toward the $29 digital copy of Shenmue III for PS4.

They promise that all proceeds will go to Ys Net and not to their partners Sony and Shibuya Productions. All backer rewards will be delivered in December 2017 when the game is expected to ship, so it will be quite a while before you see those tchotchkes. Let's hope Ys Net can meet that target because something as vast and involved as Shenmue is vulnerable to delays.