You are right about one thing. I don't know what Yu Suzuki has planned. What I do know is that hardly anyone remembers Shenmue. I also know that Yu has many other different franchises to work on. Not to mention the fourteen years since the last game, like I stated in my previous comment. Have you ever seen a sequel to a sequel of a video game that took more than fourteen years before they decided to even START working on it? I mean, if there was actual news of Yu working on Shenmue III, then that would be much different. All I'm saying is that I will be very impressed if it is ever announced.
No, you actually don't know if anyone remembers Shenmue or not. The fanbase could have dwindled down to two people or grown to five million. Fact of the matter is, nobody knows for sure. We can guess all we want, but at the end of the day there is no solid data.
Fourteen years since the release, yes...ever heard of Dukem Nukem Forever? And what other franchises? He doesn't work at SEGA anymore, and can't just use anything that he wants from them. Sure, he did Virtua Fighter and Shenmue on mobile devices, but that is it. He is doing his own thing at YS Net.
They didn't wait fourteen years. It has been said before that development started with music, art, sculptures, etc...all of that is done. The story is done. Shenmue III was announced by SEGA back in 2001. Shin Ishikawa was quoted as saying "Look forward to more Shenmue games on Xbox". RPG Gamer published a story that the game was in development. Kikizo did as well.
Why do so many people want a third game, if the second one was bad?
I have no clue as to what you are even talking about here. Shenmue II? Nobody mentioned it being bad.