It’s been practically 5 years for the reason that launch of Shenmue III. Despite the fact that the sport’s launch after practically 20 years was akin to a miracle, the story isn’t completed. Followers haven’t given up but, as confirmed by a Shenmue 4 advert that adorned New York’s Occasions Sq. this week.

Die-hard followers from the positioning Shenmue Dojo have been behind the quick advert, which appeared in Occasions Sq. on June 4. The marketing campaign consisted of a 15-second commercial and getting followers on board with the hashtag #letsgetshenmue4 on X.

Do you assume Sega seen? That is admittedly a unbelievable technique to flag the writer’s consideration. Getting one 15-second advert at Occasions Sq. begins as little as $40, so it’s not like they needed to break the financial institution. Nonetheless, it’s a daring technique; let’s see if it pays off.

Shenmue followers are nonetheless on Lan Di’s path

The Shenmue saga has been an enchanting one to stay via and canopy through the years. First launched on the Dreamcast in 1999, Shenmue was developer Yu Suzuki’s magnum opus. The Virtua Fighter creator dreamed of an open-world journey sport so private and distinctive that he felt it will conceptualize a brand new style: FREE, or Full Reactive Eyes Leisure.

Lately, we’d doubtless drop Shenmue into the open-world RPG subgenre and name it a day. The sport did result in improvements, although, akin to time-based story development and NPC scheduling — the latter of which some video games finally adopted.

Sadly, Shenmue principally heralded a headache for Sega. Regardless of the constructive reception, the sport was costly to make and too area of interest to satisfy gross sales expectations. The collection lurched on with Shenmue II in 2001 (2002 on Xbox) however fell off the radar quickly after. Suzuki, after all, by no means gave up. Shenmue III was revealed on the E3 2015 Sony Press Convention, getting a standing ovation and, understandably, some tears. I used to be proper there with you, Michael.

5 years later, Suzuki and Shenmue followers clearly aren’t giving up on a Shenmue 4. The third sport sadly couldn’t shake the ol’ Shenmue curse of being too area of interest for sturdy gross sales, however fan motion is what bought protagonist Ryo Hazuki transferring additional in his journey to seek out these rattling sailors. And it most likely received’t cease even with a Shenmue 4. Suzuki has stated the third sport represented 40% of the story, so there could also be extra campaigns forward. Are we considering #letsgetshenmue5 sometime?