It’s one of a few things.
They know someone who knows someone who’s uncle once went to college with someone who works at Sega, and they said…
The contact is possibly a tester or someone who occasionally gets exposed to brief glimpses of information, likely misinterpretted that information, and passed it on.
They’re simply making it up.
They’re right and I need to slap Yu-san for not telling me last time I had drinks with him 
The bottom line is simple: why would Sega develop/publish a game the mass market doesn’t really want?
Don’t get your hopes up.
At least we can rest secure in the knowledge that a Final Fantasy 13 is inevitable.
Still, I don’t consider Outrun 2 and Afterburner to be anything the mass market wants. This also goes for Shenmue Online. Shenmue is still one of Sega’s biggest franchises, it’s just a matter of making it profitable.
Apples and oranges. OutRun 2 and Afterburner are arcade titles and are on a completely different scale when it comes to development budgets.
Of course, but I doubt they made any money from the XBox conversion of Outrun 2 either. Shenmue 3 would also sell a lot better than the likes of Outrun, so it may end up being more profitable (with a more reasonable development budget that is).
Conversions are extremely cheap in comparison (that’s the key word) to developing an original title, particularly one like Shenmue.
I bet Sega Europe made a profit from Out Run II (even with the average sales).
Most the ground work and development costs were covered with the development of the Arcade version.
SEGA Europe only had to pay for a small Tea, and money to M$ for disc printing. Can;t see them lossing money on Out Run II (X-Box)
I don?t think SEGA will ever make money from the Shenmue project.It went beyond that, and if anything was made to sell the Dreamcast and not to make money.
Shame really but if the likes of M$ don?t come in, I can?t see Shenmue III being made for years .
I?ll much rather SEGA use the Arcade titles as the bases for their Home output. They can have loads of feedback on how the games could be made better for the users, and most old the development costs would be covered by the Arcades.
I still to this day see SEGA as an Arcade company , and the consumer Teams as a way to bring ports to the home.
Which is why I?m angry with SEGA at the MO. I became a SEGA fan thanks to the Arcade, and bought their console to play the games in my Home . I
wish they could see this, not all of us can afford the buy Arcade units , a console port is the only way.
The casuals will come and go, but the Backbone of SEGA fans really want Arcade ports. Games like Rally and Daytona still are held and admired even by the casuals. SEGA should make better use of games like Rally.
Unfortunatly if the mass market dosn’t want something it can’t realistically happen. But the problem there is that the mass market aren’t game designers, typical gamers generally don’t know much about games and what makes them great, just look at the sales charts. Although whether its true or not, I like to think that Sega (and a few others) often go the extra mile and go for quality to please fans rather than just what earns them the most money. Obviously everyone’s out to make money but surely they would’ve made much more money by making cheap film-licenced games and EA-style sports sims each year, but for some reason they chose not to and thats why Sega is so great, but also largely why they’re not in a good situation now.
Bottom line, Shenmue 3, it should be done, no doubt about it, it would be such a shame to end like it ended. Its not going to earn Sega any money but in a way its just the right thing to do. Shenmue is a work of art after all, it should be completed. The world shouldn’t revolve around money, but unfortunatly it does. So I’d be suprised if Sega did it but a lot of respect to them if they do, it would be a true gift to gamers and prove that they really are something special, and a little bit mad perhaps… but of course I’m not holding my breath.
Well, if Shenmue isn’t what the mass market wants and you guys think that Sega won’t do Shenmue 3 because of that reason, then why are they making “Like a Dragon”? That’s a lot like Shenmue so with that way of thinking it wouldn’t make sense. I suppose you can argue that it will be closer to the mass market because of its more adult theme but then again, Shenmue 3 could be the same. It could look grittier than 2, it could have meaner bad guys, tougher language, more brutal fights, etc. And it would still be Shenmue as long as all this wasn’t added just for the hell of it but to enhance the experience. Like Lance (I think it was him, can’t bother looking it up again) said, Shenmue was quite weird in that the main plot was so serious and quite “dark” and yet the game as a whole never really felt like that with its colorful graphics and atmosphere…
Sorry to bump this topic if it is old but I must say some things. Adam at Kikizo does not post rumors or anything like it. He never has and never will. All Shenmue III rumors up to this point were all quickly downplayed by Adam. He is a big Shenmue fan and has always had contacts in SEGA, oh and of course this guy does not lie.
We Shenmue fans have always known the storyline is complete, all research has been complete and we predicted some work on the game after Shenmue II has been done. What is interesting is that it is actually cheaper to put on Next gen consoles, meaning that textures don?t have to be downgraded too much and will look as good as any next console can take.
Regarding the Shenmue series this is the best news we have had in a number of years now. If Shenmue III wasn?t coming someday, it would have been dropped with Knights and Crazy Taxi.
But it sounds from that report, Sega is looking for an exclusive contract which i hope may not be the case.
One can?t blame SEGA.
70 million plus in development costs and only 2 million worldwide sales in totall,for the series , on the Xbox and Dreamcast.
Most developers would have thrown out any plans to make a part 3. If they were in SEGA position.
SEGA will never make any money for the Shenmue project, but at least this way it would help cover any development losses.
I?m still not sure if this story is true, or that any development work is on going. What I do know is, if SEGA don?t make a part 3 in the next couple of years.
It won?t be worth making the game at all. As all interest ,even from the fans will be tested to much and they would have moved on