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Forums - Gaming Discussion - The Truth about the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter. How clickbait media spread misinformation. Sony isnt Funding the development

Hynad on 20 June 2015
Legend11 said:
Hynad said:
Legend11 said:


So you're telling me that the way Kickstarter works is that you put down 5 - 10% of what you would actually need as your funding goal and tell people you have the rest of the funding from elsewhere?  Is that really the way you think it works?  C'mon son think about what you're saying.  As for the Xbox comment I've never hid the fact I'm a Xbox fan but everyone regardless of what brand they're a fan of should be concerned about this.  Kickstarter wasn't made to be another Gamestop and if companies are getting extra money because they're not giving us the complete story I want to know about it.


But they are giving the complete story. Yu Suzuki has been pretty clear from the start that his company is handling part of the funding from what they could gather from other sources. They never hid that. If you'd read the kickstarter page, you'd know all this already.

Sony isn't funding the actual production of the game. They are helping with marketing and putting the game on PS4.

All I know is that they added the following days after the Kickstarter began:

“No, we cannot make an open world game for $2 million. Shenmue will be produced using both the funds raised from the Kickstarter and through other funding sources already secured by Ys Net Inc. We are very sorry, but due to contractual obligations, details of outside investments will not be disclosed.”

I got that from this article:

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/208625-the-kickstarter-for-shenmue-3-broke-records-because-sony-lied-to-backers

I don't think that really qualifies as being "pretty clear from the start".

Why is it important that you know who financed the project?

The fact remains that he is clear that other sources of funding are involved. Read the faqs, read the actual kickstarter. Your answers are all there...

And do you even care about Shenmue anyway?



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Hynad on 20 June 2015
ReimTime said:
Hynad said:


But they are giving the complete story. Yu Suzuki has been pretty clear from the start that his company is handling part of the funding from what they could gather from other sources. They never hid that. If you'd read the kickstarter page, you'd know all this already. He's saying that he needs 10M from the kickstarter to make possible the full experience he has in mind.

Sony isn't funding the actual production of the game. They are helping with marketing and putting the game on PS4.

*Note* I edited it out because I pretty much said exactly what legend just did right above me^^^^^^^^^^^

So now I will add in a generic comment to fill up this space.

Oh boy! I sure cannot wait to play this gem!


Nobody believed the game could be what it has to be with only 2M. Suzuki said that at 2M, the game would focus on the story and not much else. If the project gets more funds, it will make it possible to implement more and more of what were part of the first games. And no, those things don't cost as much to develop as they originally did, since most of those systems are already made, and Sega is allowing Ys Net to use the old games assets. 



tiffac on 20 June 2015

Lies! We will believe what we want to believe! Down with this kickstarter, it will ruin everything!!!



starcraft on 21 June 2015
Protendo said:

You guys do realize marketing costs are often more than game development costs right?

Just look at Witcher 3...

Development budget 12.2 million.
Marketing budget 25 million.

Where did you get those figures?

I am halfway through the Witcher 3 and would be astounded and impressed if that $12.2 million figure is accurate.



starcraft - Playing Games = FUN, Talking about Games = SERIOUS

Legend11 on 21 June 2015
Hynad said:
Legend11 said:
Hynad said:
Legend11 said:


So you're telling me that the way Kickstarter works is that you put down 5 - 10% of what you would actually need as your funding goal and tell people you have the rest of the funding from elsewhere?  Is that really the way you think it works?  C'mon son think about what you're saying.  As for the Xbox comment I've never hid the fact I'm a Xbox fan but everyone regardless of what brand they're a fan of should be concerned about this.  Kickstarter wasn't made to be another Gamestop and if companies are getting extra money because they're not giving us the complete story I want to know about it.


But they are giving the complete story. Yu Suzuki has been pretty clear from the start that his company is handling part of the funding from what they could gather from other sources. They never hid that. If you'd read the kickstarter page, you'd know all this already.

Sony isn't funding the actual production of the game. They are helping with marketing and putting the game on PS4.

All I know is that they added the following days after the Kickstarter began:

“No, we cannot make an open world game for $2 million. Shenmue will be produced using both the funds raised from the Kickstarter and through other funding sources already secured by Ys Net Inc. We are very sorry, but due to contractual obligations, details of outside investments will not be disclosed.”

I got that from this article:

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/208625-the-kickstarter-for-shenmue-3-broke-records-because-sony-lied-to-backers

I don't think that really qualifies as being "pretty clear from the start".

Why is it important that you know who financed the project?

The fact remains that he is clear that other sources of funding are involved. Read the faqs, read the actual kickstarter. Your answers are all there...

And do you even care about Shenmue anyway?

No I didn't play the original Shenmue and to be honest I don't care about the new one, for me this is mainly about Kickstarter.  The reason being is that I'm a big fan of games like Pillars of Eternity and some of them wouldn't get made at all if it wasn't for Kickstarter.  If a bunch of major publishers had put their RPGs on there asking for money and making it seem like their games wouldn't be made without Kickstarter then there would have been the possibility of Pillars of Eternity never being made.  That's the reason I care, I just want to make sure companies are completely honest on there so that they don't end up screwing over the games that really do need Kickstarter.  This is not about the console wars for me, if Microsoft had done the same thing I'd be asking the same questions (I know some people don't believe that but it's true).



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starcraft on 21 June 2015
ethomaz said:

BTW Sony & Shenmue team are saying the same thing...

That is why the game is only on PC and PS4.

I think there is a fair chance this game will stay PC and PS4 only. But that Tweet actually makes zero implications supporting that...



starcraft - Playing Games = FUN, Talking about Games = SERIOUS

plip.plop on 21 June 2015
Legend11 said:
For those telling people to watch the original video does the guy ever take inflation into account? I stopped watching when I saw that he was basically using costs during Shemue's development and treating it like it's the same amount in today's dollars.


He never mentions it. I actually used an inflation calculator, that shows 47 mil in 94, is equivalent to 75.4 million today.

 Also that 47 million was the cost for development, but SEGA spent 23 million in marketing making the 70 Million amount Sega reported, technically correct. The only source from that though was a wiki page, so take it with a grain of salt.



ReimTime on 21 June 2015
Hynad said:
ReimTime said:

*Note* I edited it out because I pretty much said exactly what legend just did right above me^^^^^^^^^^^

So now I will add in a generic comment to fill up this space.

Oh boy! I sure cannot wait to play this gem!


Nobody believed the game could be what it has to be with only 2M. Suzuki said that at 2M, the game would focus on the story and not much else. If the project gets more funds, it will make it possible to implement more and more of what were part of the first games. And no, those things don't cost as much to develop as they originally did, since most of those systems are already made, and Sega is allowing Ys Net to use the old games assets. 

Oh definitely. My comment was more a cheeky "to be perfectly fair" statement. Not arguing against people's perception of dev expenses, just pointing out that "Official statement" was not there from day 1.



#1 Amb-ass-ador

Hynad on 21 June 2015
Legend11 said:

No I didn't play the original Shenmue and to be honest I don't care about the new one, for me this is mainly about Kickstarter.  The reason being is that I'm a big fan of games like Pillars of Eternity and some of them wouldn't get made at all if it wasn't for Kickstarter.  If a bunch of major publishers had put their RPGs on there asking for money and making it seem like their games wouldn't be made without Kickstarter then there would have been the possibility of Pillars of Eternity never being made.  That's the reason I care, I just want to make sure companies are completely honest on there so that they don't end up screwing over the games that really do need Kickstarter.  This is not about the console wars for me, if Microsoft had done the same thing I'd be asking the same questions (I know some people don't believe that but it's true).


Wait... Are you doubting that after 14 years, the project didn't need kickstarter?



ethomaz on 21 June 2015

starcraft said:

Where did you get those figures?

I am halfway through the Witcher 3 and would be astounded and impressed if that $12.2 million figure is accurate.

It is from CD Projekt RED but the number is a bit wrong (or maybe he is referencing to the inital budget in 2013).

Dev budget: $15m
Marketing budget: $25m

http://www.pb.pl/3169838,32789,wiedzmin-3-bedzie-kosztowal-ponad-100-mln-zl

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=586441

That was the budget in 2013... after that the game reached $67m.

Dev budget: $32m
Marketing budget: $35m

http://pieniadze.gazeta.pl/pieniadz/1,136158,18087407,Wiedzmin_3___Trzyletnie_naklady_na_produkcje_zwrocily.html

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/245735/With_over_4M_sold_Witcher_3_handily_recoups_estimated_67M_budget.php