Deep Silver Takes On Shenmue III As Publisher, Not Just Crowdfunded Anymore

The Shenmue series is not exactly the most prolific property in the video game industry, but it does have a fair bit of following among loyal fans. In fact, this is what allowed the creator to actually crowdfund his game, which is now in the works with the working title Shenmue III. These same fans might be glad to know that the game has finally found a publisher in Deep Silver, which has a fair bit of acclaim for handling titles like the Metro franchise and the Saints Row series.

Set to launch in 2018, gamers have been looking forward to what creator Yu Suzuki has managed to do with the money that the game’s Kickstarter campaign managed to raise. So far, details about the game have been scarce. Then again, Suzuki is scheduled to appear during the upcoming Gamescom, where he will discuss the game’s progress, VentureBeat reports.

With regards to Deep Silver taking on the title, this isn’t actually the first time that the publisher took a chance with a crowd funded game. It gave the same treatment to Mighty No. 9, which was supposed to be a spiritual successor to the original Mega Man games. Unfortunately, it was an unmitigated disaster.

It seems the publisher does have quite a bit of confidence in this project, however, with Deep Silver boss Klemens Kundratitz expressing a more positive outlook with regards to the game’s future.

“Shenmue is one of a few game franchises that have historical value [while] continuing to ignite passion amongst gamers,” he said. “We are delighted to have signed this publishing partnership and look forward to utilizing our global publishing network to maximize the potential of this highly-anticipated game.”

Suzuki himself has expressed enthusiasm with regards to the new partnership, Gamasutra reports. He seems particularly happy about the publisher’s track record of bringing Japanese games to the global mainstream market.