Rumor: Shenmue Gone For Good

**D Mac** · 08-08-2007, 06:13 AM

via Wired Blogs

Some fairly depressing rumors are declaring that Shenmue is all but dead and buried. As recently as last year, series creator Yu Suzuki confirmed the development of Shenmue Online, but legal issues between Sega and developer JC Entertainment stalled the game's development.

A post over at Shenmue Dojo, which quotes an email from Kikizo's Adam Doree, bodes ill for the future of both Shenmue Online and Shenmue 3:

"As for Shenmue, I would have to say at this stage, it is worth forgetting about. If all the fans get any rich relatives together and channel it though Dojo perhaps we could buy rights, hire Suzuki (he'd likely say yes) and independently make the game under license from Sega at no risk to them. That is the only way it will get made at this stage I think."

If that's not quite declarative enough for you, Doree also says "Shenmue Online is f***ed and Suzuki's status is, once again, up in the air, which counts Shenmue III totally out of the picture right now. This is confirmed, it seems."

While we can hope that Doree has no clue what he's talking about, it's sadly more likely that he's absolutely correct. We'll probably never see the conclusion of Ryo Hazuki's story, or see the comeuppance of the evil Lan Di. Sigh.

08-08-2007, 06:13 AM	#1
D Mac Posts: 21,603	Rumor: Shenmue Gone For Good via Wired Blogs Some fairly depressing rumors are declaring that Shenmue is all but dead and buried. As recently as last year, series creator Yu Suzuki confirmed the development of Shenmue Online, but legal issues between Sega and developer JC Entertainment stalled the game's development. A post over at Shenmue Dojo, which quotes an email from Kikizo's Adam Doree, bodes ill for the future of both Shenmue Online and Shenmue 3: "As for Shenmue, I would have to say at this stage, it is worth forgetting about. If all the fans get any rich relatives together and channel it though Dojo perhaps we could buy rights, hire Suzuki (he'd likely say yes) and independently make the game under license from Sega at no risk to them. That is the only way it will get made at this stage I think." If that's not quite declarative enough for you, Doree also says "Shenmue Online is f***ed and Suzuki's status is, once again, up in the air, which counts Shenmue III totally out of the picture right now. This is confirmed, it seems." While we can hope that Doree has no clue what he's talking about, it's sadly more likely that he's absolutely correct. We'll probably never see the conclusion of Ryo Hazuki's story, or see the comeuppance of the evil Lan Di. Sigh.