Shenmue 3 hits Kickstarter goal

That didn't take long. Less than 12 hours after its announcement at the Sony E3 press conference stage, the Kickstarter for Shenmue 3 has reached its $2 million goal. $2,289,324 is the exact total, at the time of writing. That's the power of being revealed during a massive E3 conference, I guess. And also of being Shenmue 3.

This thing could run and run, given that there's still 31 days before the end of the campaign. It's just as well, as I imagine Yu Suzuki and the game's development team will actually need much more than $2 million to make a good Shenmue sequel.

Shenmue 3 is being created in Unreal Engine 4, and will finally pick up from the cliffhanger of Shenmue 2. "Ryo and Shenhua start off on a new journey that will take them farther into enemy territory," explains the Kickstarter pitch, "deeper into mystery, and ever closer to their destiny."

Shenmue 3 is estimated for a December 2017 release. It is definitely happening, but it's going to take a while.

Edit: Stretch goals! The existing goals run to $4 million, which, at this rate, will probably happen at some point tomorrow.

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Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.