Today Shenmue 3 director Yu Suzuki and publisher Deep Silver announced that their highly anticipated follow up the classic Dreamcast series was going to be delayed.
Originally, Shenmue 3 was supposed to be released on Aug. 27, but it will now instead release on Nov. 19. Alongside the news Suzuki left this message for the game’s Kickstarter backers:
Whilst almost ready, the game simply needs a little more refinement before being truly finished.
We feel that the extra time we have will help us deliver the true Shenmue experience players around the world deserve!
We thank you for your patience and understanding,
After being release date-free for quite some time after its surprise E3 2015 reveal, back in May of last year Suzuki and Deep Silver felt comfortable letting fans know that the game would be ready before the end of summer 2019.
The delay moves Shenmue 3 into the busy holiday season right before Black Friday in the United States. Other notable games releasing in November include Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and of last week we can throw Death Stranding onto that pile as well.
Despite the high profile competition, Shenmue 3 should do just fine even up against tougher competition. Not only was the most successful Kickstarted video game ever, the original games have a strong cult following that have been waiting for a proper follow up for a very long time.
While the news might come as a disappointment for some, for a game as long in the making as this one is, I’d like to think most fans would prefer to give Suzuki and his team all the time they need to get it right.
