It’s Over: Here’s How Much The Shenmue 3 Kickstarter Made
One month ago, Yu Suzuki took to the Sony stage during E3 and announced that he was launching a Kickstarter, effective immediately, to fund Shenmue 3. Sega gave him permission, Sony agreed to help with promotion and funding (in exchange for some exclusivity), but it would be the fans that would determine how big the game could actually be.
The Kickstarter expired this afternoon, and wound up making $6,333,295 from 69,320 backers — over triple the initial amount asked for. This put Shenmue 3 over the record for the most funded video game in Kickstarter history, breaking the previous number set by Koji Igarashi’s Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (he didn’t get to enjoy that record for very long).
About half of Shenmue 3’s stretch goals were met, which means the game will be subtitled in several languages and one of the main villages will be expanded with extra quests and tasks. It also means the skill tree and rapport systems will be implemented in the final product.
The most popular reward point by far was the $60 mark for a copy of the game on a PS4 disc with a custom case label, which attracted 14,668 backers — including yours truly, who must now begin the waiting game and hope the title he just committed to purchasing doesn’t suck.