Trust me Shenmue was theirs in contract before any one got on stage, it was no risk for them to write up if x goal is met we go forward with some funding.  The reactions and achiveing 2million in about 12 hours prove the investment sound.

It's a PR stunt

Sony will be picking up a decent part of the bill, maybe Sega too? I can't tell if they're involved

Which makes me wonder what kind of a budget a game like this would really need if the previous games costed 40m+.

Nope there is a reason this is PS4 PC, like SF4 and FF7 Sony are putting money and more than likely dev time in.

Yes, and it's done.

Added to the Kickstarter:

Will there be an Xbox/Wii U/Linux/Mac version for Shenmue 3?
Currently we are planning development only for PC (Windows) and PS4.

No doubt Sony is funding most of it. This is more than likely free marketing.

sure. if they make a bad game
otherwise not even close

Odds are the 2mil won't actually be the whole budget, but a way of gauging interest and also a PR stunt as well. Plus it allows fans to have more of a say and for the wait to be hopefully less painful.

I have no doubt that Sony will be publishing and funding the game, at least partially. So no, 2mil won't be enough but that's not the point of this project IMO.

$2 million could be enough if they only are 13 people on the team, but the Kickstarter campaign may just be proof of concept for an investor or publisher.

Not enough to dev it.

But maybe enough to make a demo and get to show publishers and get real funding.

Or they are going to reuse assets and keep ps2 level of graphics for true indie.

Or Sony only wants to gauge interest.