Something I found;
Yu Suzuki in 2014 - “About Shenmue, Sega is not a problem at all. For Shenmue III, we need to define a specific budget and if I can gather enough for it, Sega will allow me to do it.”
Makes me wonder if he's got reassurance from other investors about Shenmue III.
I can't, it's not as if they aren't getting anything for their money... You pay for what you want, the only difference is you're paying for the game before it's developed instead of after.
Perhaps Sony are funding but maybe not enough for whatever Yu needs to realise Shenmue 3 how it needs to be. We don't know the details but I doubt Sony are putting down a full AAA budget.
The thing is no one has been upfront about this. I don't care because I'm willing to throw money at Yu Suzuki but for other people who are trading their hard earned cash they'd like some honesty beforehand.
It might have made the Kickstarter go slower, no doubt about that, but people wouldn't be annoyed about this. Knowing a game is going to get funded thanks to a publisher and being told otherwise is two different things. As I said I don't mind, SEGA could do this with Outrun, Shinobi et all and I'd throw money but for other people multi-billion corporations asking for cash to fund games rub them the wrong way.