Is there still hope for Shenmue III?

There’s no fun in beating a dead horse: in fact, it’s rather cruel. But by golly, passionate fans still show hope for the release of future episodes of Shenmue. As it stands, it’s incredibly unlikely, though Simon Jeffery failed to give a definite “no” on any Shenmue action any time soon. You heard right, fanboys…it could totally happen!

Alas, we may continue to go wanting, for the only thing that could get Sega to breathe life back into the franchise is if it can show that there is a significant market for it. That will take more than the critical acclaim and campaigns from its niche fandom; there needs to be some big money to be made.

Many fans assume the attitude that since Sega’s already invested an estimated over $70 million developing the game series, they might as well finish what they’ve started. The reality is that Sega views it as they’ve already wasted too much money on the series, so it would not be in their best interest to waste any more. Considering the dismal sales that the first two installments have suffered, it would take an explosive consumer interest in order to turn their efforts into profit.

My own proposal is based on a simple principal: Money talks. Petitions are for hippies. Sega needs to see that there’s such a demand for the franchise that consumers are willing to throw ridiculous amounts of money toward supporting it. Learning from what we’ve recently witnessed from Chrono Trigger, Shenmue fans would have to collectively put their games up for auction and sell them to each other for upward of hundreds (maybe thousands?) of dollars in order to grab Sega’s attention. Yes, this plan is genius, but sadly not as much as it is criminal.

In 2004, development for an MMORPG was set in motion, but never came to fruition. Rumors recently surfaced of a Shenmue I & II bundle to be ported for the Nintendo Wii, but I’m more inclined to take Adam Doree’s word that the best thing for us to do is give up on the dream and move on with our lives.