'Shenmue 3' Breaks Records With $6 Million Kickstarter Funding (VIDEO)

By Dondi Tiples, Christian Post Contributor Monday, July 20, 2015

Video game threequel "Shenmue III" topped records with over $6 million in funding on Kickstarter, gaming websites have announced.

Open world action adventure video game "Shenmue III" surpassed its $2 million goal with a record-breaking $6 million in funding from Kickstarter.

Just a little over nine hours after Sega AM2 game producer and director Yu Suzuki announced the crowdfunding for previously cancelled "Shenmue III" at Sony's June E3 conference, the upcoming game surpassed its initial goal, with nearly 70,000 backers pledging a total of $6,333.295 for the game, making the third "Shenmue" installment the most funded video game campaign in all of Kickstarter history.

Developer Ys Net earlier upped the ante by adding more reward tiers for backers, including $39 worth of "Save Shenmue Digital Upgrade" with a copy of the game thrown in, an exclusive Kickstarter wallpaper set, and a $2,500 limited edition "Shenmue Character Bust," the latter of which was claimed almost immediately.

The crowdfunding campaign surpassed the previous title holder, "Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night's" $5.45 million record, however, "Shenmue" creator, Suzuki admitted it still fell short of the projected $10 million needed to give the third game in the series all the features of an open world environment.

Despite this, Suzuki has revealed he intends to create the best version of the series within the budget raised for the third game.

With the record-breaking pledges received, a number of the game's stretch goals have already been met, helping to expand its goals to include a skill tree and rapport system for the third installment, as well as fully immersive additional areas and more quests.

Following the events of the previous game, "Shenmue III" sees Ryo Hazuki searching Guilin for Lan Di, his father's killer. He meets the mysterious Ling Shenhua, the girl who has recurrently appeared in his dreams, and they both embark on a journey that will reveal the singular destiny they share.

"Shenmue III" is scheduled to be released in December 2017 for PC and PlayStation 4.