Shenmue 3 delayed again, leaving no one surprised
How many times has Shenmue 3 been delayed? The answer, unfortunately, is "quite a few," and things got even worse today. Deep Silver and Shenmue 3 mastermind Yu Suzuki have announced that the game has been delayed yet again, this time with its release date being pushed back to November. Hopefully this is the last time we hear of delays for the highly anticipated game that is multiple decades in the making.
For those not keeping track, this puts the number of times Shenmue 3 has been publicly delayed at three, and that's not counting the years of development hell the game went through before it was successfully crowdfunded. Originally slated to launch at some point in 2017, the game was first pushed back to the second half of 2018 and then again to August 27th, 2019.
As of today, however, Shenmue 3 has been bumped back another three months to November 19th, 2019. In a statement published to Shenmue 3's kickstarter page, Deep Silver and Yu Suzuki say that the game is "almost ready" but it "simply needs a little more refinement before being truly finished."
"We feel that the extra time we have will help us deliver the true Shenmue experience players around the world deserve!" the statement continues. "We thank you for your patience and understanding."
Shenmue fans are no strangers to waiting on a game. They've been waiting on Shenmue 3 for nearly 20 years at this point, so waiting a few more months may as well be waiting more minutes. Here's hoping that this is the last delay Shenmue 3 is hit with, and that when it finally arrives, it'll be worth the decades-long wait.