Shenmue 3 Delayed to November

After years and years of fans dreaming of Shenmue 3, it was finally announced. The impossible became possible, the dream had become a reality. Shenmue 3 was due out in August but, unfortunately, that is no longer the case.

In news that will surprise absolutely no one, the long-awaited third entry into the Shenmue saga has been delayed, again. With a new release date of November 19th. At least that’s still this year. It also nicely ties up with the 20th anniversary of the first game. It’s kind of poetic in a way.

If you are like me, you’re a Kickstarter backer and you may have seen Yu Suzuki’s blog:

“Hello everyone, today, Yu Suzuki & Deep Silver would like to give a message concerning the release date. Shenmue 3 will now release on 19th November 2019.

“Whilst almost ready, the game simply needs a little more refinement before being truly finished. We feel that the extra time we have will help us deliver the true Shenmue experience players around the world deserve! We thank you for your patience and understanding.”

It’s never nice for fans to see a game delayed, especially one they’ve waited years for. Shenmue 2 came out all the way back in 2001 (for the Japanese and us Europeans, you guys in America had to wait until 2002) so it’s been a long old wait for the next game. After all this time though, what’s another 3 months? As I’ve said before, I’d much rather developers took the time to polish their games and release them as complete as possible instead of rushing out a broken mess of a game that requires a million updates in order to make it enjoyable.

Here’s hoping that Shenmue 3 benefits from this extra polish and we, as gamers, receive the title we’ve all been waiting for. What do you guys think, are you still excited for Shenmue 3 after all this time? I am, and I can’t wait to see my name in the credits.