'Shenmue 3' update: Creator Yu Suzuki 'needs more funds' for a better product

Ys Net

It seems like "Shenmue 3" creator Yu Suzuki believes that the most successful crowdfunding effort for a video game in Kickstarter history is not enough to make it an amazing game.

In an interview with Eurogamer, the game creator shared his concern about the third installment of one of the most successful video games of all time. "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," Suzuki said. "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."

"Shenmue 3" became a Kickstarter record holder as the highest crowdfunded game in the history of the website. It raised its first $1 million in just 102 minutes, and managed to reach its initial goal of $2 million in less than eight hours. When the campaign reached its deadline of July 17, the game managed to raise a total of $6.3 million from more than 69,000 supporters after being launched in June.

But Suzuki said that the amount is not enough, which is why since Sept. 17, they have been accepting donations via PayPal under its Slacker Backer program. He also said that if they do not get as much budget as the previous games from the series, they will still produce the "Shenmue 3."

"Kickstarter's not the only source of money, 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," Suzuki claimed.

"Shenmue 3" was first announced during the Sony E3 press conference, where Suzuki revealed that the game will be developed for PC and PlayStation 5 using Unreal Engine 4.