10 Expensive Video Games Nobody Wanted
4. Shenmue III
As mentioned earlier, fans willing to crowdfund games if the excitement is there. To Shenmue's credit, it has been a long-endearing series with a massive fan base.
Even then, it was surprising to see the kickstarter for the third installment reach six million dollars in just over a month.
Expectations were high, the standard was set, fans wanted to see Shenmue embrace modern conventions and blow the eighth generation of consoles (and PC) competition out of the water. Remember how good it looked on the Dreamcast, etc?
It should have been a sure-fire hit. At least six million in funding, original director Yu Suzuki behind it, and remember how good it was on the Dreamcast?!
Sadly, that sentiment didn't carry eighteen years over to the end result. More importantly, it looked and played just as it did in 2001... much to the disappointment of many who expected more.
Not the diehard fans, they loved it. But that doesn't equate to sales, seeing it sell less than the remasters of the first two games. Deep Silver defended it as a "core niche product", but I doubt we'll ever see a fourth one.