Shenmue 3 Breaks Funding Records on Kickstarter

Shenmue 3 has broken a Kickstarter record to become highest crowdfunded video game on the platform.

At the time of writing, the Shenmue 3 campaign has generated $5,553,470, beating the $5,545,991 that Castlevania: Symphony of the Night designer Koji Igarashi accrued for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.

When placed alongside all Kickstarter projects, Shenmue 3 is the eighth most funded project, behind The Veronica Mars Movie Project ($5,702,153), Ouya ($8,596,474), and Exploding Kittens ($8,782,571).

The top three most funded projects are Pebble, at No.3 with $10,266,845, the Coolest Cooler at No.2 with $13,285,226, and Pebble Time at $20,338,986.

Shenmue series creator, Yu Suzuki, is set to host a live event to mark the ending of the Kickstarter campaign at 4 PM PST today (12 AM UK time). He will be joined by various key members of the development team.

According to Suzuki, Shenmue 3 will offer the "full-on Shenmue experience." Shenmue 3 was announced during Sony's E3 2015 press conference. Although Sony is involved in the project, the extent of its involvement has not yet been made clear.

Suzuki did, however, address questions regarding the funding of Shenmue 3 and Sony's involvement in the project, ensuring fans that crowdsourced "funds are going strictly to Ys Net for development of Shenmue 3."