As my partner Sergio Cejas explained when he could play it, Shenmue 3 It is a title especially aimed at fans who wanted to follow Ryo Hazuki's story years ago; continuist in every detail. For a player outside the saga it is difficult to appreciate, so its creator wants to solve that.
It is still too early to talk about Shenmue 4. At no time has it been confirmed that it will happen, although Yu Suzuki is confident that it will come true. Not only that, but he also already has ideas for this potential new installment, as he explains in an interview with IGN Japan (translated by VGC).
With Shenmue 3 I made a game for the fans, but if I have the opportunity to do Shenmue 4, and I think I will, I already know how to satisfy the most casual users. I want to make a game that everyone can like.
Sure enough, this third iteration hasn't sold as much as any other blockbuster, despite being a legendary franchise in between. Deep Silver, the editor of Shenmue 3, rated it like "niche game" even.
According to Suzuki, the goal of Shenmue 3 was to get the saga back for the fans, so I didn't think too much about making money from it. However, now that you are running a company like YS Net, you have to consider market preferences to move on.
In recent months, the Japanese creative has been investigating how the rest of the open world games work and taking notes of them, as well as listening to the feedback of those people who had not liked Shenmue 3.
I already have ideas on how we could improve and incorporate new features without breaking the essence of Shenmue. From a business perspective, it's important to understand what people who didn't like about Shenmue 3.
These ideas materialize for now in experience comfort enhancements such as quest markers, fast travel, and more. In this way it is intended that the experience be more fluid and bearable.
Suzuki would also like to delve into original projects outside of Shenmue, but affirms that while there is a demand for this saga, he prefers to finish the story of Ryo and company.
