14 DAY TRIAL // Japanese sources have announced that Shenmue City, a social oriented video game that was only offered for gamers in Japan, was officially closed down just before the end of 2011, probably because it failed to make enough money to support itself.
This probably means that the much talked about third full game in the Shenmue franchise might never actually happen as the series continues to enjoy critical success and a lot of love from the public but continually fails to deliver on the commercial front.
The Japanese game was delivered via the mobile version of the Mobage social network and was created by a company called Ys Net, which hired series creator Yu Suzuki to direct the game.
It was supposed to be free-to-play, in order to create a player base, and then supported via microtransactions and initial plans were to have Shenmue City eventually move to web browsers and then get a chance at life on Western gaming markets.
With the game closed down none of this will happen and it’s likely that any interest that SEGA has in launching another fully fledged Shenmue title will likely disappear.
The first Shenmue game was launched for the SEGA Dreamcast and arrived in Japan on December 29, 1999 with the grand ambition of revolutionizing the game space, with fully voiced non players characters, complex interactions with the game world and a lot of immersion.
Unfortunately the Dreamcast went on to become one of the biggest failures of the gaming industry and Shenmue, despite its quality, suffered a setback, especially after Microsoft managed to prevent the North American launch of the Dreamcast version by securing exclusive right for the original Xbox.
Since then rumors have appeared regularly about an imminent Shenmue III announcement which SEGA has always failed to deliver upon, much to the chagrin of the fan base.