Ys Net has announced that they have transferred Shenmue III’s publishing rights to ININ Games.
In a press release found on their site, they shared this statement:
“November 19, 2024 – ININ and YS NET announces that the publishing for Shenmue III will officially transfer to ININ Games as of today.
Following the previous collaboration on Air Twister, this will deepen the relationship between ININ Games and YS NET. Known for their commitment to celebrating beloved titles, ININ Games is excited to shepherd Shenmue III into its next phase.
This collaboration marks the beginning of a new chapter for Shenmue III, with ININ Games working closely alongside YS NET to honor the series’ legacy while ensuring its accessibility to even more fans around the world.”
For those who may not remember, Ys Net was the company founded by former SEGA developer Yu Suzuki, to produce Shenmue III. ININ Games, as explained in this Gematsu profile, is a video game publisher based all the way in Germany, that has been spending the past few years publishing remakes and rereleases of classic Japanese games.
That certainly sounds counterproductive, but if you’re old enough to remember video game arcades, you may have already been enjoying ININ’s releases. They have published titles like The Ninja Saviors, Shadow of the Ninja Reborn, Wonder Boy Collection, Ultracore, and the Taito Milestones series.
As mentioned above, they stepped up to publish Air Twister, Suzuki’s next game after Shenmue III. Air Twister was initially released on Apple Arcade on 2022, and it was ININ who brought it PC and consoles the following year. ININ has gone above and beyond in working with those Japanese veteran developers to foster their games, so it’s easy to see how they won Suzuki over to make this happen.
While there was some initial worry that Sony secured exclusivity for Shenmue III by paying for development, it was later clarified that they really gave Ys Net free marketing and did not directly give money. Nonetheless, the game was not only exclusive to the PlayStation 4, but it was also exclusive to the Epic Games Store for a full year.
These were moves that seemed to undermine Shenmue III’s chances of selling well. But perhaps like Remedy with Alan Wake 2, Ys Net simply could not afford to produce ports of the game to more platforms.
Sadly, as we now know, Shenmue III received mixed reviews, with the consensus coming out that the game design simply did not age well. So Ys Net was not in a place where they could move forward with new ports, or possible new games in the franchise.
With Air Twister coming to Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and even Nintendo Switch, fans are now hopeful that ININ will be able to bring Shenmue III to Switch and Xbox as well. I personally hope that ININ could make DRM-free ports of these games to bring to GOG. In any case, this definitely looks like a new spark of hope that we could go back and pick up where Ryo’s quest just dropped off.
