Shenmue fans have rented out a billboard in New York’s Time Square to campaign for a fourth game and give creator Yu Suzuki a chance to “complete his life’s work”.
The campaign has been spearheaded by fansite Shenmue Dojo, who shared a livestream clip of the #LetsGetShenmue4 billboard on social media.
The advertisement itself features artwork of key characters from the game with the hashtag, stating “join us the 4th of every month”.
“Shenmue fans do some insane things to try and get recognised… are you watching Sega?” reads the social post from Shenmue Dojo. Plenty of other fan accounts have also shared images of the billboard as part of the campaign.
Broadcast live during our #Shenmue Day stream, #LetsGetShenmue4 hit the streets of New York with a full on 15 second advertisement on Times Square! 🏙️
Shenmue fans do some insane things to try and get recognised…are you watching @SEGA @SEGA_OFFICIAL?👀 pic.twitter.com/gzfLzQWZb9
— Shenmue Dojo 🐦🔥 (@Shenmue_Dojo) June 4, 2024
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It’s no surprise that fans are passionate enough for another sequel. The first two games, originally released on Sega’s Dreamcast, were cult favourites that underperformed commercially. Creator Yu Suzuki turned to crowdfunding for the third game, raising a total of $7.1m from 81,087 backers. On Kickstarter, it raised $6.3m to become the platform’s highest-funded video game project.
Shenmue 3 ends on yet another cliffhanger, but there’s no indication another game will be on the way, leaving fans frustrated.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Shenmue Dojo co-owners James Brown and Matt Oliver has discussed why this campaign is so important to fans, and why game is so special.
“What Shenmue did was not only change the perception of what could be done with video games back in 1999, it created a world and story that resonated deeply with us and the community but was a victim of circumstance (and other factors) with the discontinuation of the Dreamcast,” they said.