Shenmue III, the sequel many fans wanted to see happen for years now, will miss its 2018 release window and to be pushed back to 2019, publishers Deep Silver announced.
“The extra time will be used to polish the quality of the game even further, to the high standards it deserves and release the product in the best possible timeframe,” the press statement simply reads.
Yu Suzuki’s pioneering adventure game has been influential, from providing an immersive world where characters have schedules according to the in-game time to quick-time-events. The last game, Shenmue II ended on a cliffhanger that was never resolved. (Though Suzuki collaborated with Mega64 to produce a version of what Shenmue would have ended- jokingly)
Shenmue III was last seen under fire for being very rough in the edges, as shown in some early preview videos. Hopefully the extra development time will help the game get into a better shape. Meanwhile, Sega is releasing remasters for Shenmue I and II this year.
Source: Deep Silver