20 Video Game Reveals That Shocked the World

19. Shenmue III

E3 2015 is fondly remembered as the "E3 of Dreams" because it saw a trifecta of long-awaited games finally announced, one of which was Shenmue III.

Though director Yu Suzuki designed the action-adventure franchise as a five-part saga, the commercial failure of the first two Shenmue games put its future in serious doubt.

As we got further from Shenmue II's 2001 launch, it seemingly became less likely that Suzuki would ever get to make Shenmue III. But then E3 2015 happened.

During Sony's presser, Suzuki took to the stage to confirm that Shenmue III was indeed finally happening, with its budget coming from both crowdfunding and a cash injection from Sony themselves.

The threequel finally released in November 2019 after numerous delays to wildly mixed reviews, some loving how faithful it was to the series' dated gameplay, while others felt it was a lackluster follow-up.

In a ballsy move, rather than wrap the franchise up as many expected, Suzuki remained committed to his five-game plan, ending Shenmue III on yet another cliffhanger all while the prospect of Shenmue IV looks slim-at-best.