Shenmue 3 hits Kickstarter goal

That didn't take long.

That didn't take long. Less than 12 hours after its announcement at the Sony E3 press conference stage, the Kickstarter for Shenmue 3has reached its $2 million goal. $2,289,324 is the exact total, at the time of writing. That's the power of being revealed during a massive E3 conference, I guess. And also of being Shenmue 3.

This thing could run and run, given that there's still 31 days before the end of the campaign. It's just as well, as I imagine Yu Suzuki and the game's development team will actually need much more than $2 million to make a good Shenmue sequel.

Shenmue 3 is being created in Unreal Engine 4, and will finally pick up from the cliffhanger of Shenmue 2. "Ryo and Shenhua start off on a new journey that will take them farther into enemy territory," explains the Kickstarter pitch, "deeper into mystery, and ever closer to their destiny."

Shenmue 3 is estimated for a December 2017 release. It is definitely happening, but it's going to take a while.

Edit: Stretch goals! The existing goals run to $4 million, which, at this rate, will probably happen at some point tomorrow.