Deep Silver will be handling publishing duties of the long-awaited Shenmue sequel:
LARKSPUR, Calif. – August 17th, 2017 – Deep Silver and Ys Net are excited to announce their collaboration to publish Ys Net’s forthcoming, long-awaited game, .
The global publishing deal will cover the release exclusively on PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and PC, both physical and digital versions. The current release date is scheduled for the second half of 2018.
“Shenmue is one of a few game franchises that have historical value whilst continuing to ignite passion amongst gamers. We are delighted to have signed this publishing partnership and look forward to utilizing our global publishing network to maximize the potential of this highly-anticipated game,” said Dr. Klemens Kundratitz, CEO of Koch Media/Deep Silver.
Yu Suzuki, the director of Shenmue III and CEO of Ys Net added, “I am very pleased to secure this global partnership with Deep Silver, which is comprised of incredible men and women who have a deep passion for bringing Japanese titles to the rest of the world. Throughout this process, Deep Silver has expressed a deep passion for Japanese games, the Shenmue franchise and its fans—this gives me further confidence in Shenmue III and that we have found the best partner possible.”
“We are very excited for the continuation of Ryo Hazuki’s journey in Shenmue III, and are confident the game will deliver the story and gameplay PlayStation fans have been waiting for,” said Florian Hunziker, Vice President of PlayStation’s Third Party Relations & Developer Technology Group. “The global partnership between Ys Net and Deep Silver will help realize Yu Suzuki’s vision for Shenmue III—we are thrilled to see his spirit of innovation materialize on PS4.”
Industry legend, Yu Suzuki, will be attending Gamescom 2017 to attend two “Meet & Greet” events in the public area Hall 9.1 Stand B011/C010, Wednesday evening 6:30-7:30pm, and Thursday 12:30pm-1:30pm. He is excited to meet Shenmue fans and celebrate this new partnership with Deep Silver.
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About Shenmue III
Shenmue III is the eagerly anticipated sequel to Dreamcast classics Shenmue (1999) and Shenmue II (2001). The brainchild of award-winning game director, Yu Suzuki,Shenmue set out to combine action gameplay from his arcade classic Virtua Fighter with RPG mechanics to weave a long-form epic for home consoles. Commonly known as one of the most ambitious game projects in history, Shenmue captured the imagination of players from around the world with its unique setting, intimate and cinematic character-focused story, realistic battles, and fun mini-games. Many of the features pioneered in Shenmue are now commonplace in modern games, including open world and Quick Time Event gameplay. Shenmue III was officially announced on stage at Sony’s E3 2015 press conference and simultaneously launched on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, breaking two Guinness World Records upon raising more than $6 million dollars. The game is currently in development at Yu Suzuki’s independent company, Ys Net, located in Tokyo along with many original Shenmue team members.
