16 Little-Known Gaming Stats That’ll Blow Your Mind
5. The Biggest Gaming Bomb Cost $100,000,000 To Develop
Poor Sega, the 2000s really weren't their decade. Afflicted with stalling sales of the criminally underrated Dreamcast system along with increasing competition from third-party developers, it was only natural that the Japanese company would resort to desperate measures. Though universally adored upon its release, the first Shenmue didn't perform well at all - barely managing to make back its $47 Million budget (at the time) in sales. The same story was sadly repeated with its sequel, Shenmue II, though with a much, much larger figure. The ill-fated sequel reportedly had a development budget of around $100,000,000 (accounting for inflation), and struggled to find its footing in the American market, despite doing marginally better in Japan and Europe than its predecessor did. As of now Shenmue III looks as though it's a long way away from becoming a reality, but as long as the series harbours a dedicated and vocal fanbase hope may not be so misplaced for a revival of this particular franchise.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
