'Shenmue 1 & 2' rumors: Listings appear on Eastern Europe retailers

An image of main protagonist Ryo Hazuki from the popular video games by Sega "Shenmue." SEGA/Shenmuedojo

Sega's popular title "Shenmue" might not be getting its third installment any time soon, but news suggest that the first and second games might just be ported for the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4. The rumors began when an insider saw listings of it at Eastern European retailers.

It has been reported that in the weekend of Sept. 7 to 9, the listing for both games appeared on the Czechoslovakian retailer Alza, but was eventually taken out of the list. The listings also appeared on other Slovak retailers, with only one of them suggesting a 2017 release date. However, the de-enlistment of the games entails that the information was put up way too early than the developers intended. Regardless, the listing is a welcome sight for the true fans of the game.

According to Video Gamer, this type of rumor surrounding the first two "Shenmue" games being released for modern consoles is not exactly new information. In May of 2016, they reported that the game is on its way to modern consoles, but only had trouble with licensing issues. Perhaps, more than a year is enough for the developers of the video game to work out a smooth port to modern day consoles, and to fix any wrinkles regarding licensing with Sega.

Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that the game becomes available once again before 2018. According to Dualshockers, Sega has not provided any kind of comment regarding the leak, and this must be killing fans of the games. The listings indicated that the prices are at €49.99, which is the price of a brand new game. If this price is hypothetically another mistake made by the websites, it is safe to assume that the price is close to the actual one.

Even if the news surrounding "Shenmue 3" is still unclear at this point, it is safe to assume that the first two games will be landing on the PS4 and the Xbox One right before the third one comes along. This could be a good way to reel fans in to maximize the profit that the developers will get out of releasing "Shenmue 3," especially since the last title was released way back in 2001.

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