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Yu Suzuki celebrates Shenmue 3’s Kickstarter anniversary with new video

Legendary video game designer Yu Suzuki has posted a new video message in celebration of the one year anniversary of Shenmue III’s Kickstarter success.

The former SEGA developer revealed that team at Ys Net has been bringing on more staff to work on the hotly anticipated action-RPG sequel, and have been busy testing Shenmue II characters in the Unreal Engine 4 for the battle system.

Check out Suzuki-san’s full message on the Shenmue III Kickstarter page

Shenmue 3 breaks Kickstarter records, coming to PS4 in 2017

Shenmue III was announced during Sony’s E3 2015 press conference, where Suzuki-san took to the stage to unveil the game’s launch on Kickstarter. The game went on to raise one million in record time, and was fully funded at $6.3 million

The game is scheduled for release on PlayStation 4 and PC in December 2017, and continues the journey of Ryo Hazuki as he explores China in search of the the mysterious martial artist who murdered his father. 

Shenmue was released on the Dreamcast back in 1999, becoming a visual showpiece for SEGA’s ill-fated console. The sequel followed in 2001, although in the U.S. the title was delayed to 2002 and only released on the Xbox. 

The franchise gained a cult following among gamers who have been clamouring for a follow-up for the past 14 years. Luckily for them, it’s finally happening.