Sega West big boss man Mike Hayes has been talking Shenmue again, in an interview with CVG he said while Sega has “no plans at the moment” for a new Shenmue on consoles, he encouraged Shenmue devotees not to lose hope, insisting that the publisher is taking demand for a new iteration “very seriously indeed“.
“Hopefully, we’ve shown that we’re listening to [those that love old Sega IP] because we have pretty much reduxed or reinvented all of it in one way or another,” he told CVG.
Make sure to read on after the jump:
“Look at this month” he said “I can point to Shinobi and say the main reason we’ve done it on 3DS is because a lot of people said they want to see Shinobi again and that platform was perfect for bringing that alive in a relatively moderate way.”
“We take all of that very seriously but at the same time we’ve got to look at the market opportunity and the cost of doing it well. Look at all the things we’ve done as a software publisher: we relaunched SEGA Rally which was critically acclaimed, Samba Di Amigo which did okay. Golden Axe we didn’t do very well with, but we spent money on it – we listened “
“Trust me,” he continued, “We hear loud and clear about Shenmue, and we’re not going to close our ears to it.
Sonic and SEGA All Star Racing works into that too, specifically because we know people are fans we introduced the forklift truck as a downloadable vehicle and then created a trailer specifically for that one character. We do listen and I think that was the right time to give a nod and a wink to those guys.”
“To be fair to us we’ve done Sonic 4, Afterburner, Golden Axe and Shinobi on 3DS. We do listen. It’s not like we’ve got our fingers in our ears, we take that very seriously and value the small but vocal people. Sonic 4 was the perfect example that we’re listening to those guys. Generations is too – and that will show when people get to see it for themselves.”
That is fantastic Mike Hayes, I am always glad to hear from this guy. He’s infinitely better than Simon Jefferys ever was.
But rebooting a series is only half the battle Mike, it’s all well and good to say ‘hey look we gave you Golden Axe and Sonic 4’ but the simple fact is that if you are going to reboot a series it has, I repeat has to be done with care… If you’re going to just hand out your classics to unproven, bullshit American developers that usually work on license titles (like the Shinobi reboot) then I’m not sure any Sega fan will be thanking you for that!
I’m more than happy to see Shenmue continue like most old Sega IPs. In fact I would be extremely excited, it is my favourite series of all time! But if it was farmed out to some developer I’ve never heard of, heck if it came from ANY developer besides AM2 then Mike, frankly I don’t want it…
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Any shenmue related news gets me a boner……..
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okay but on a serious note. I personally would feel bad if shenmue 3 didn't come on a SEGA console :(. I mean of course the chance is small, but still, just saying.
The chance is zero, there will never be a Sega console again. It's been a decade now, a decade of Sega turning more and more towards being a 3rd party company.
I'll take Shenmue on ANY console, consoles are hardware. They mean nothing. It's like being a fan of a TV or a phone or a toaster… Instead of the shows, the calls and the… toast.
Sega has already admitted that Shenmue 3 is the most requested game by fans in their history.
Hayes says that they're listening to those fans, but it seems that they're only acting on the games that aren't as demanded as Shenmue.
Why would they tiptoe around it by giving Ryo a cameo in All-Stars Racing?
It only gives fans false hope while Sega releases crap sequels like NiGHTS and Golden Axe.
Hayes is trying to make Sega look like a company that caters to their fans' requests by saying they listen to the Sonic fans, the Samba De Amigo fans, and the Golden Axe fans…
With Shenmue 3 being the MOST requested game, and Hayes making us believe that Sega actually listens, I strongly feel that Shenmue 3 should have been out a long time ago.
@Reno, the problem is that unlike the games they are rebooting now the Shenmue series is a really massive undertaking… It isn't simply another game… It's an extremely expenisive game that would take a lot of work and a lot of money.
On top of that the series was an absolute bomb, it sold well but it lost the company millions and millions of dollars…
Getting a project like Shenmue green lit again is not a walk in the park…
I believe fully that Mike Hayes is 100% full of good intention, he WANTS to make Sega fans happy… He WANTS to get Shenmue out again. But there are big hurdles.