Shenmue III Finds A Publishing Partner…And It’s Not Sega

With Shenmue III being made by the legendary Yu Suzuki, one would automatically assume that Sega would be the ideal publishing partner for the game. But today we learned that there's a new company in town that will be handling the global publishing for the title.

According to a press statement published on the official Shenmue site, Ys Net, the company behind the forthcoming sequel, has signed a deal with Deep Silver, who recently released the Saints Row spin-off Agents of Mayhem. The company will handle global publishing for the title (both digital and physical), which still doesn't have a release date. However, it will have presence at Gamescom next week, so more details regarding when it'll arrive could be likely.

"We are proud to have gained a wonderfully reliable partner to make sure Shenmue III reaches all its fans all over the planet," the company noted in a press statement.

As for those Gamescom plans, it appears that Yu Suzuki will be on hand for a special meet and greet at the event, available on Wednesday, August 23rd from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM, and August 24th from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM at the official booth for the company.

It's great to see Deep Silver on board, though, again, it's a bit weird that Sega didn't get attached to the game – especially since the company has expressed interest in re-releasing the first two Shenmue games in high-definition format, though nothing has been officially confirmed. At least the title's in good hands, as Deep Silver is a very reliable company when it comes to taking care of certain franchises, including its just-released Agents of Mayhem, as well as the forthcoming Metro: Exodus, which was just announced during Microsoft's E3 press conference earlier this year.

Now, as far as what Ys Net could be showing from Shenmue III, that's up in the air, but don't be surprised if we get a little snippet of gameplay, or, at the very least, a trailer showing off the game's progress. We'll let you know what we find out as Gamescom takes place next week.

In the meantime, who's up for a forklift race?