Sega has just lost their hold on the Shenmue trademark in the US, as a USTPO page has revealed they have failed to take the necessary actions to protect said IP.
Shenmue is a cult open world adventure game produced by Yu Suzuki, also known as father of many influential and innovative Sega franchises. His earlier work with Super Scaler brought about scrolling wonders like Hang-On, Space Harrier, and After Burner, while his work with 3D gave us pioneering titles such as Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter, and Daytona USA.
Originally developed for the Saturn, Shenmue was to be a traditional role-playing game making use of the tropes and characters of Virtua Fighter. It rapidly grew to develop its own story, and moved to the Dreamcast after the Saturn proved difficult to work with. The 1st Shenmue was released in the US in 2000, with Shenmue 2 coming out in Japan & Europe a year later, and then eventually for Xbox in the US 2002.
Although the game has little connection with Grand Theft Auto, it came out in the same era, and offered many similar elements, as well as divergent ideas for open world gameplay. Among the things that made Shenmue distinctive were its magic weather system, use of QTEs, emphasis on interacting and connecting with everyone in a smaller community than GTA, and an intricate martial arts based fighting system.
As the fates would have it, Shenmue 2 would prove to be a poor seller on the Xbox, although both games did well on Dreamcast. Much like Earthbound, the game grew a rabid fan community that clamored for the game to receive a sequel for years.
Unfortunately, Shenmue fans are not getting the happy ending Earthbound fans did. This news simply caps all the details that have layered over the years, such as Suzuki leaving Sega, revelations that Sega was down on a sequel, and hints of aborted projects, including a possible Shenmue MMO.
Sega’s Shenmue site last dated 2001 is actually still up, with an English section to boot, although it never really had much in it. This shows Sega was at least not 100 % complacent in holding onto the property, but one wonders now if Sega will act to regain control of it, or if this ends the saga of looking for a Shenmue 3.
Image is from the Shenmue website.
