Recent comments by publisher 110 Industries have Shenmue fans thinking it’s behind development on the unannounced fourth game.
Despite the divided reception, and , for , director Yu Suzuki swore that he would keep the series going and continue the story with .
Over two years later and there’s still no sign of it, but some fans are convinced that it’s real and that publisher 110 Industries has some involvement with it.
Last year, Suzuki featured as part of . Not to announce anything, mind you; just to talk about his own history and experience with working on games.
The natural assumption is that the two must be working together on something and recent comments from 110 Industries have added fuel to the fire.
In promoting its upcoming action game Wanted: Dead, one fan suggested that the company was teaming up with Suzuki for Shenmue 4. Rather than simply ignore it, 110 Industries replied, asking them to guess why Suzuki featured in their Tokyo Game Show video.
Other fans quickly picked up on this, leading to a tweet from fan site Shenmue Dojo. Again, 110 Industries could have easily ignored or shot down the rumour, but instead responded with ‘No comment.’
Assuming it is involved, 110 Industries would presumably be publishing the game, although Shenmue 3’s publisher, Deep Silver, may still be involved when it comes to physical editions. Suzuki’s studio, Ys Net, would undoubtedly remain as the primary developer.
Whether Suzuki will rely on crowdfunding again is another question entirely. There are still plenty of Shenmue fans around but a fourth game is unlikely to as the third one.
Even if there isn’t a fourth game the franchise is still alive and kicking. The series didn’t immediately fade back into obscurity after its release, with of the first game announced in 2020.
It’s currently airing on and appears to be going down well with fans, currently holding an average user rating of 4.7/5.
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