The announcement that Shenmue 3 is in the works was a godsend to fans. Getting to work on it, though, is probably even better – especially for the hardcore ones.
It’s cool to love a game so much that you start your own project purely out of the attachment you have to it. But it’s even cooler if that project gets you hired by Sega to help create Shenmue 3.
For NoconKid, the South Korean modder who’s spent years remastering the original Shenmue in Unreal Engine 4, this is a dream realized, and he deserves it.
This is the kind of thing gaming companies need to look into. There’s plenty of talent in the fanbase their games generate. Those fans want nothing more than to improve the games they love, so developers really have nothing to lose by getting more of them involved in the development of games. Fans want to see them suceed almost as much, perhaps even more, than developers do.
Companies like Konami and Nintendo can learn a thing or two from Sega. Shenmue 3 is scheduled for release on December 2017 on the PS4 and PC.
