Last night during the PlayStation presser, it was announced that “Shenmue III” would be hitting Kickstarter that night. Within an hour it had hit $500,000, within two hours it was over a million, and, as of this morning, the game has broken its $2,000,000 goal. A pledge of $29.00 will get you a digital copy for PS4 or PC to play to your hearts content. It has been 14 years since the release of “Shenmue II’ and the numbers clearly show, that a sequel is in demand.
This is yet another example of a major studio putting their IP on Kickstarter to gauge crowd interest. With the recent success of “Bloodstained” (The highest funded game on Kickstarter to date), and the success of countless other titles, crowdfunding is still going strong in gaming.
Is it wrong for large studios to use Kickstarter to fund their IP? Would “Shenmue III” generate this much revenue if it simply went to retail itself? I wonder, if after the E3 hype train has stopped, if the energy from the show is enough to get consumers to pick up a title 2ish years after announcement, with Kickstarter the commitment is instant, and the emotional tie to the purchase is stronger.
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