Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Yu Suzuki's Plans for 2020: "A New Project Start" [Famitsu.com]

Japanese website Famitsu.com has published their traditional annual survey of members of the games industry, this time interviewing a total of 110 game creators. They were asked to choose a word that sums up their direction for the coming year, as well as their New Year's Resolution and goal for the coming year.

Here are the answers Yu Suzuki provided for the coming year:
Q: What is your keyword for 2020?
YS: "A new project start".
Q: What is your New Year's Resolution?
YS: To leverage my know-how from Shenmue III and focus on planning a world with even more freedom.

Q: What will you be keeping an eye on in 2020?
YS: Of course that would be the Olympics. Please try out Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Something else that captures my interest is Mulan.
In the last response, Suzuki (who still has a consulting role with Sega) gives a shout-out to Sega's Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, which was recently released for the Nintendo Switch and for which there are plans to release as an arcade cabinet this year. Mulan is an upcoming historical period drama set in China which is a live-action adaptation of Disney's 1998 animated film of the same name.

Of most interest to Shenmue fans is Yu Suzuki's revelation that he is commencing a new project, and in his second answer he mentions planning out a "world with even more freedom" than Shenmue III.

Could this new project be Shenmue IV? Continuing on to make the next Shenmue game in the series is something Suzuki has previously indicated he would like to do (for example in this Museo Dreamcast interview), and furthermore it would make sense do so while the current development team is in place. At the same time, Suzuki no doubt also has ideas and concepts for other projects, so no doubt the eyes of all fans will be watching closely for further information.

Related Links


These are Yu Suzuki's end-of-year interviews from the past three years:
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