Sony has just confirmed that now that the Kickstarter goal has been reached they are in fact helping with funding and development of Shenmue 3

[VGPolyglot]

StuOhQ said:

VGPolyglot said:

While it is possible, Sony would be pretty generous funding and developing Shenmue III, only to let it be released on the competition. If it weren't for Sony the game wouldn't even exist.

If it weren't for the backers, Sony wouldn't have funded the game... There is something deeply unsettling about all of this.

If it weren't for Sony, the game wouldn't have even been available for backing.