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Saving Shenmue With Toys

Posted by Joe Keiser

Is it possible to save a beloved franchise with one dollar and an envelope?

The Shenmue MySpace Campaign is betting yes. Between Thanksgiving day, which also happens to be the tenth anniversary of the Dreamcast, and December 29th (they claim this is Shenmue’s anniversary, but that’s not how I recall it) they want everyone who fondly reminisces about forklifts and sailors to send Sega a capsule toy and a little prayer. A prayer for Shenmue III.

Now this campaign will probably be good for one or two Sega employees who’ve been struggling to complete their collection of little plastic Pokemon. And it’s great to see that people are still really passionate for what was an innovative and influential game—it’s one of my favorite series, too. But it’s highly unlikely there will ever be another one, no matter what the longtime fans do to encourage it.

The Shenmue MySpace Campaign is comparing this effort to the one the got Jericho back on television, but there’s a couple of differences between that and this. Jericho did come back as a result of fan campaigning, but only as a seven episode mid-season replacement—it’s not like Sega could take that “toe in the water” approach with a game. Jericho did six million viewers on average, which is considered poor for network television but was probably enough to at least break even on the effort—so the network likely only lost an opportunity cost.

For Shenmue to tell its long story in a detailed world while maintaining the franchise’s integrity as a technical showcase, tens of millions of dollars would easily have to be spent on the project, and millions would have to be sold for such a game to turn a profit as a result. The first Shenmue sold 1.2 million copies worldwide, but that was a different Sega that had the money and vim to push the game as hard as it could. Remember that even at that level of sales Shenmue was a disastrous money pit for the company.

So at best, Sega would be taking a significant financial risk on a franchise that burned it badly before. It’s doubtful that any number of capsule toys can make that sound like a good idea. I love the sentiment, but maybe we should all focus on getting the company to do something that actually has a chance of happening? Let’s ask for a new, real Phantasy Star, or for Yakuza: Kenzan to come to the US.


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

AlexB said:

Awwwe. That's a cute thing they're doing, but I'll agree with you. It's pretty pointless.

I really enjoyed Shenmue, but even I'll say that as a game, it didn't live up to the hype (F.R.E.E. my ass, it's an adventure game).

I'd play Shenmue III. But didn't Yu Suzuki say the series was dead?

November 26, 2008 12:04 PM

Demaar said:

Isn't Yakuza pretty much the new Shenmue? TBH I have no idea, as I haven't bothered playing either.

November 27, 2008 11:38 AM

Joe Keiser said:

Yakuza is a better game than Shenmue in most respects, but its epic crime saga lacks the intimacy of Shenmue's story. So Yakuza is a more enjoyable game to play, but a more difficult game to become a crazy zealot about.

December 1, 2008 10:03 AM

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about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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