Shenmue 3: 10 Things It Needs To Be Successful

10. Effective Marketing

Japan-centric games can be marketed in a very hit-and-miss fashion in western territories.

Take, for instances, the unforgettable slogan for the UK advertising of N64 smash hit, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: "Wilt thou get the girl... or play like one?"

Not exactly forward thinking in the dying years of the 20th century. The marketing behind the original Yakuza on PlayStation 2 (a.k.a. Ryo Ga Gotoku) didn't fully push the fact it was a type of reborn Shenmue, either. Despite being an open-world, action brawler, instead the story was the main message, and gameplay didn't get a chance to shine.

Shenmue III needs to go mainstream with its marketing if it wants to reach a critical mass of an audience and build to something mass market. Yes, there are almost 75,000 combined backers via Kickstarter and the Slacker Backer programme but 75,000 sales does not a successful game make - especially when you're budget is in the millions and you've got development and publishing partners relying on you.