The Shenmue III Publishing Torch Has Passed to ININ Games | Community Video Selection

Although several days have passed since the announcement caused a flurry of excitement in the Shenmue community, we could not let it go unmentioned on the blog any longer: with the blessing of YS Net, ININ Games has assumed publishing rights for Shenmue III!

The YS Net Press Release

It all started with a rather inconspicuous news entry added on 19 November 2024 to the YS Net official site, simply titled "Notice Regarding Shenmue III Publishing Change". This linked to a press release  document that announced the immediate transfer of publishing for Shenmue III to ININ Games, stating:

"Following the previous collaboration on Air Twister, this will deepen the relationship between ININ Games and YS NET. Known for their commitment to celebrating beloved titles, ININ Games is excited to shepherd Shenmue III into its next phase.

This collaboration marks the beginning of a new chapter for Shenmue III, with ININ Games working closely alongside YS NET to honor the series' legacy while ensuring its accessibility to even more fans around the world".

 

The ININ Games Press Release

A couple of days later, an online article by Gematsu quoted a press release from ININ Games. After noting the significance of the transfer date coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the Shenmue series and the fifth anniversary of Shenmue III, the release continued:

"We at ININ Games are honored to carry the Shenmue torch forward during such a significant moment in the series’ history. As we reflect on two decades of innovation and passion, we remain dedicated to preserving and sharing the journey of Ryo Hazuki with both long-time fans and newcomers".

 (Note, there had been some initial confusion about whether the rights were for the complete franchise, but it was later clarified to be just Shenmue III).

The timing, on the 5th anniversary of Shenmue III, suggests that the previous publisher, Deep Silver, had publishing rights for a period of five years from its release. In addition, the mention of ensuring "accessibility to even more fans" suggests that the exclusivity to Sony's PlayStation platform has now also ended.

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[Final Part] Shenmue Anecdotes from Composer Osamu Murata

This is the third and final part in our series of anecdotes from Shenmue composer Osamu Murata. For previous parts, see Part One and Part Two. 

Osamu Murata (profile photo from Twitter / X)

Shenmue III

Jun 16, 2015: S3 Festival Begins

スタジオから帰宅！と思ったらお金集まってる！S3祭りはまだまだ続く！お祭りなので、初出しシェンムーお宝。「巌の手紙」に藤岡さんのサイン。1999だって。すげー生きてきたなー、自分。

Translation:  

"Home from the studio! And found out money is being raised! The S3 festival continues! Since it's a festival, here's a Shenmue treasure for the first time. A 'Iwao's letter' signed by Mr. Fujioka. It's from 1999. What an amazing life I've lived!"

Unfortunately, the image associated with this 2015 tweet is no longer available but we can imagine a physical reproduction of the in-game letter left for Ryo by his father. Murata's letter was even signed by the actor for the character of Iwao Hazuki in the Japanese version, Hiroshi Fujioka.

The letter left for Ryo by Iwao Hazuki in Shenmue.

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Brianna Knickerbocker Interview: Recording for Shenmue 3

In February earlier this year, Brianna Knickerbocker was announced as the voice actor in English for one of the lead characters in Shenmue III (to be released August 27): Shenhua.

• Related post: English Voice Recording Report (Kickstarter Update #98).

Brianna has extensive experience voicing characters in anime, video games, films, and TV series going back more than 10 years, as can be seen from the filmography on her IMDB page. Brianna was also awarded the title of Breakthrough Actress of the Year in the 2015 Anime Dub Awards held by Behind The Voice Actors, a voice-acting community site.

With the release of Shenmue III coming up in just a few months, it was the perfect time to take the opportunity to hold the very first interview with Brianna by the Shenmue community, and we were delighted to accept her offer. The questions in the interview were gathered from Shenmue fans across various social media fan sites and represent the topics you most wanted to hear about - perhaps you will spot your own submitted question!

And now, onto the interview with Brianna which starts below.

Background

Q: We're excited to have this opportunity to learn about you and your role as Shenhua in Shenmue 3! To get started, could you tell us a little about your background and how you came to work in the voice acting field? 

Brianna Knickerbocker (BK): Randomly enough, I originally moved to LA to pursue fashion design. I remember crying in my car at lunch during a trial day at a fashion company. It was horrible, I hated every second. So I quit that same day! I went on Craigslist searching and searching for what I was going to do next and saw an acting gig, submitted, and booked it (it was just some random short film, but that's how I found acting). I signed up for an acting castings site where I could apply for more acting gigs, saw a voice over gig and applied thinking it would be fun. I booked it and it all took off from there!

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