Shenmue fans have rented out a billboard in New York’s Time Square to campaign for a fourth game and give creator Yu Suzuki a chance to “complete his life’s work”.
The campaign has been spearheaded by fansite Shenmue Dojo, who shared a livestream clip of the #LetsGetShenmue4 billboard on social media.
The advertisement itself features artwork of key characters from the game with the hashtag, stating “join us the 4th of every month”.
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“Shenmue fans do some insane things to try and get recognised… are you watching Sega?” reads the social post from Shenmue Dojo. Plenty of other fan accounts have also shared images of the billboard as part of the campaign.
It’s no surprise that fans are passionate enough for another sequel. The first two games, originally released on Sega’s Dreamcast, were cult favourites that underperformed commercially. Creator Yu Suzuki turned to crowdfunding for the third game, raising a total of $7.1m from 81,087 backers. On Kickstarter, it raised $6.3m to become the platform’s highest-funded video game project.
Shenmue 3 ends on yet another cliffhanger, but there’s no indication another game will be on the way, leaving fans frustrated.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Shenmue Dojo co-owners James Brown and Matt Oliver has discussed why this campaign is so important to fans, and why game is so special.
“What Shenmue did was not only change the perception of what could be done with video games back in 1999, it created a world and story that resonated deeply with us and the community but was a victim of circumstance (and other factors) with the discontinuation of the Dreamcast,” they said.
“Shenmue is currently an unfinished story with Shenmue 3 ending on a cliffhanger following its 2019 release. Yu Suzuki has an overarching 11 chapter storyline which is currently around 40 percent completed. He feels that he could condense the next remaining chapters/story into two games to give a fulfilling conclusion.
“So our goal is to push for the fourth game in the series to be one step closer to the finished vision. For us it is not only important to be able to have Ryo’s journey finally completed or to get ourselves lost in a new Shenmue game but to also support Yu Suzuki, who has given so much to gaming as a whole, a chance to finish his life’s work.”
The billboard idea originated from a stream a few months back, and is designed to be a statement to “really announce to the world that we’re still here and will continue to unite and fight for Shenmue to be finished”, the pair continued. The hope is it will resonate with Sega or other companies, and show the “crazy gestures” the series’ community is still capable of.
The campaign cost just $40 for 15 seconds, with a timeslot suitable for the game’s worldwide community. “However none of us could have predicted the huge reaction this has generated,” they said, “and we thank each and every person who has posted this, talked about this and come out in force to support Shenmue”.
Suzuki has discussed the possibility of a fourth game, stating in an interview: “I want Shenmue 4 to be enjoyable for newcomers… To make that possible, the most important thing is to make it enjoyable without knowing previous events in the story. I don’t think that a new player wants to know 100 percent of the story. 20 or 30 percent could be enough.”
One consideration would be a prequel, as with Yakuza 0. “Making an even more detailed Dobuita than the original Shenmue is an interesting idea, especially if it’s not a remake but a prequel with a new story,” Suzuki said.
There’s no indication that Shenmue 4 is even in development, but that hasn’t stopped the desire from fans.
Shenmue 3 is “a faithful follow-up to an all-time classic,” Martin Robinson wrote in Eurogamer’s Shenmue 3 review. The game continues the story of teen martial artist Ryo Hazuki to avenge his father, which began in the first game that impressed with its open world gameplay.
