Shenmue I & II Re-Releases Were Planned Prior to Shenmue III Reveal

Last Week, Sega shocked Shenmue fans with the announcement of Shenmue I and Shenmue II re-releases for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. At the time, some assumed the announcement came after the excited response the Internet blurted out when Shenmue III was revealed back at E3 2015 during Sony's E3 presser.

That said, the assumption is wrong. Sega Europe's Vice President of Publishing, John Clark, has revealed that re-releases for the 1999 and 2001 Sega Dreamcast classics have been stewing internally for several years.

Speaking to IGN during Sega Fes 2018 in Tokyo, Japan, Clark explained that the re-release discussion was going on before the reveal of Shenmue III and it's subsequent Kickstarter campaign. However, the buzz that swallowed forums and social media did help further push the re-release initiative along, revealing that the series had considerable presence beyond just it's home nation Japan.

"We saw the talk surrounding the announcement of Shenmue III, and we saw the demand for that game," Clark told IGN. "[Ports of] Shenmue I and II had been a discussion pre Shenmue III, but I think that it all helped raise the awareness internally and externally."

Clark notes that he believes even in a world where Shenmue III doesn't exist, re-releases would eventually happen, citing an increasing global appetite for Japanese games, as well as classic Sega IP of yesteryear.

"I think it was inevitable Shenmue I & II was going to come out; the Western market was expanding in its desire for more Japanese content," said Clark.

Speaking of classic Sega IP, Clark noted that the trend for demand of Sega titles began with the 2014 PC release of 2008's Valkyria Chronicles. Since then, other PC ports of games like Bayonetta and Vanquish were received warmly, while the Yakuza series bursted out of niche and into the western mainstream.

"We have a wishlist [for most-wanted re-releases], and one of the first games that we brought out [from that list] was Valkyria Chronicles," said Clark. "That came out on PC, and the appetite for that game on PC led to it coming out on console as well, and now we see that the franchise is becoming really healthy. That triggered renewed interest in the West for [Sega's] Japanese titles, and they started to go to a bigger audience in the West than they had, say, 10 years or 15 years ago, It was encouraging for us and for Sega in Japan to see that. I think that influenced and gave us leverage on the kind of titles we could bring out, titles like Shenmue."

The Sega executive also revealed why the re-releases took so long to come together, citing that contractual issues were a major factor in the hold-up.

"Some of it does come down to the availability of licences and voice actors and things like that, which does sound a little bit corporate, but you do have to go through that," said Clark. "It's a big project, and there were very many elements to consider."

Clark also reaffirmed what Sega has floated around in the past, that it has more classic IP to bring back, and that there are still more announcements to come.

The re-releases of Shenmue I & II are currently slated to arrive sometime later year. As for Shenmue III, it is also apparently hitting sometime this year as well, and for the same platforms minus Xbox One.