| Curmudgeon said: Let me start by saying that I've played the first game in the series back in the day and I thought it was really good. A Shenmue 3 announcement therefore was a welcome surprise to me. However, I'm a bit bothered by the Kickstarter campaign. Kickstarter is platform that, in my opinion, should be used as a funding platform. People have this great concept, but lack the money to make it a reality. The way I see it when talking about games, is that it is a way for indie/small developers to gather the funds required to make their game. Enter Shenmue III. A big megaton sequel to a very expensive game. Obviously backed by gaming giant Sony who most likely have or will pay a large part of the development costs with it being exclusive. And they can easily afford it. So why the kickstarter, if funding won't be the problem? (we all know the game will cost much more then 2 million anyway) It seems like they are abusing Kickstarter as a marketing tool, and to test public interest. People are not funding a game, it more like they are funding the marketing of a hugely anticipated game supported by one of the biggest gaming companies around, and persuaded into ****** preorders because they want the game to be 'funded'. It seems gaming is moving towards a system of paying up front and hoping for the best when the game releases, some weird market mechanic in which we increasingly buy games based purely on promises instead of results. Somewhat understandable in the case of projects that would have no possibility of being made without those resources, but it worries me that the bigger and bigger players seem to join. What next, kickstarters for God of War and Metroid? Maybe you guys think I'm paranoid or maybe you're too just happy about Shenmue III, but I don't see this as a healthy development in the game industry. At least not for gamers. |
They were actually smart to do this. Its a huge risk to fund such a niche game like Shen Mue yourself without it yeilding results. The Kickstarter is helping them gauge intrest as well as make it a reality. Perhaps they will meet us half way if we show interest.
