I remember playing Shenmue on a friends Dreamcast a long time ago, I do remember that you get your own room or apartment and you could go to sleep at the end of the day, you also got messages left for you on the place's phone. It was very "immersive" (I hate that word but in this case it's spot on), made you feel like you really were the main character.

I got the exact same reply as ShadowWulfe; no plans for a DRMfree Shenmue 3 kickstarter...

It's interesting how these developers want to show a demand for Shenmue but might confuse some lack of support as lack of interest when it's really the bigger issue that people (or at least myself) just don't want DRM.

Unfortunately, I doubt we matter all that much in the grand scheme of things. Most people are blissfully apathetic about DRM (as well as other issues).

It just means that I'll wait for it to bundle years down the line.

I'll probably receive the same reply about drm.
As much as im glad the game will happen, since i have good memories of the previous 2, no drm free version equals no support from my part on the kickstarter. But maybe if these types of campagins increase, the odd one will be drm free, like the recently bloodstained.

Would be great to see a modern PC version of Shenmue, especially a DRM-free one, however unlikely that may be.

Either way, nice to know the series is still alive, after all these years.

I wonder if it will still have the same impact on younger gamers, as the original games had back in the day. I doubt they'll be able to compete with games such as GTA, at least in terms of budget and sheer scale of the game world. Maybe they'll focus more on story, with a smaller world?

According to the most recent project update, Yu Suzuki is going to be doing a Reddit AMA tomorrow. The time has not been set, that I am aware of, but this would be a great opportunity for someone here who posts on Reddit to bring up our desire to #SaveShenmue from DRM by making #Shenmue3DRMFree. I'd be curious what he, personally, has to say on the subject. Anyone willing to do it?

This was also added to the faq:


▻ Can you make an open world game for just $2 million?
No, we cannot make an open world game for $2 million. Shenmue will be produced using both the funds raised from the Kickstarter and through other funding sources already secured by Ys Net Inc. We are very sorry, but due to contractual obligations, details of outside investments will not be disclosed.


I strongly suspect that those "contractual obligations" also say something regarding drm, in the same way the shadowrun kickstarter had the obligation of being delivered trough drm, something that was eventually and fortunately changed, but harebrained schemes had a hard time coming clean to the backers during the campaign.

Well, nothing is going to change if we don't make any noise.
We need to take every opportunity to keep this request at the forefront of their minds.

EDIT: So, it looks like Suzuki-san's Reddit AMA is tomorrow at 9:30am PST. I hope someone here is able to ask him about making #Shenmue3DRMFRee.

Well, good luck with Sony and going DRM-free...

is the pc copu drm free? Been looking for info on it but cant find anything.

http://static01.gog.com/upload/forum/2015/06/c7bb4be1f91618a598d0549982695bc5b4034616.png

As it turns out, Suzuki-san's AMA is at 9:30PM PST (they weren't specific in their first post, so I just made an assumption).
That is past my bedtime on the East Coast of the U.S. Who will take on this responsibility in my stead?

Will you?

I also got the stock response regarding DRM. Haven't really seen anyone in their comments section bring it up either, everyone seems to only really be concerned about getting a physical copy for PS4.

Please everyone back this game with as much as you can!
Shenmue 1+2 are legendary and are one of the best immersive atmospheric games in gaming history, and are brilliant to this day! Even if you never played it, I assure you, Shenmue III will be worth it. For a pledge of 29 Dollars you already get a digital copy of the game for PC or PS4.
Go here to be part of gaming history: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ysnet/shenmue-3

And of course leave lot's of "DRM-free and bring it to gog.com comments" for the PC version, in direct massages to whoever is running the campaign. Once you backed the game, you also can leave public comments on the page.

Here is a recent reddit Statement from Yu Suzuki on how much money they really need to make Shenmue III a worthy sequel:

How much game elements/features will we be missing in the game if the campaign doesn't reach the $5 million mark?

Yu Suzuki:
I will say this: if we reach the $5 mil mark, one of the things I really want to do with Shenmue 3 will become a reality.
At $10 million, it will truly have the features of an open world.