Now that we’ve all given ourselves time to get over the fact that Shenmue 3 is a thing that’s actually happening, we’re starting to grow more and more concerned that any and all information that has surfaced regarding the project hasn’t exactly sounded positive since it became the highest-funded video game on Kickstarter. Now we’re left to contend with the news that, despite $6.3 million having been pledged by backers, creator Yu Suzuki still doesn’t believe that it’s enough money to make Shenmue 3 “gorgeous visually.”
Gulp.
Suzuki made the admission during a candid interview with Eurogamer, in which he said that although Shenmue 3 has received further funding and Shibuya Productions outside of the money it’s received from Kickstarter backers, it is still likely that the development team will have to compromise on the game’s visuals in order to deliver a better game in other aspects.
Shenmue 3‘s creators released this image, that looked like it was made in Microsoft Paint, to thank backers for their support.
“We’re still trying to gather funds,” Suzuki said, adding: “Obviously, the more money we have the more we can do. Even if we don’t get as much budget as the previous games, we’ll still make this game.”
He continued: “I could do with a bit more money! 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. The most important thing, to me, is that the game’s interesting, and that it’s something people want to play.”
While the amount of funding the game has received may not be equivalent to the money pumped into a AAA release, it’s certainly enough to create a good-looking game, and it’s disconcerting to hear Suzuki say otherwise. While many may feel that his honesty is admirable, with so many crowdfunded video games failing to match the expectations of their backers, this could certainly lead to a few alarm bells ringing as Suzuki is essentially discussing how the game will potentially fail to impress in certain areas before we’ve even seen proper gameplay footage of it.
Graphics aren’t everything, but with the money from the Kickstarter campaign and the extra funding supplied by Sony and Shibuya, Suzuki should certainly be able to hire a designer who would be able to make best use of the money in Shenmue 3‘s bank account. We’ve seen independent developers create stunning games with a fraction of Shenmue 3‘s budget, so Suzuki saying that the millions of dollars he has to work with will not allow him to create a good-looking is concerning.
There have been many examples of heavily funded Kickstarter campaigns eventually proving to be disappointing as creators struggle to cope with the overwhelming amount of support and expectations from backers, but this is one of the only instances where a creator has taken the money of backers and has openly stated that it’s probably not enough. Hopefully Shenmue 3 won’t prove to be yet another example of how people should be cautious of crowdfunding, and that the finished product will justify the amount of money pumped into it.
