ININ Games has shared the 411 on Shenmue 3 Enhanced in a new interview with Shenmue Dojo.
Last year, ININ announced that they acquired the publishing rights to Shenmue 3. Last week, they announced Shenmue 3 Enhanced. However, their announcement still left a lot of open questions about this rerelease.
Here’s Why We Haven’t Seen Shenmue 3 Get Enhanced Yet
ININ Games’ Felix Wagner said this about announcing the game:
Even though we didn’t have much to show really, the quality is not quite where we wanted to show it yet. Just the announcement itself, announcing what we’re going to do and the resonance has still been this great.
It’s clear that ININ just started development and we shouldn’t expect too much yet. But their answer to this other question is sure to turn heads.
Why Did They Only Say “Nintendo”
When Shenmue Dojo asked ININ if Shenmue 3 was coming to Switch 2, Felix said this:
As you can imagine, it’s something I can’t quite say. We want to do it. That’s a given. It’s a new console so it would be great.
It’s a matter of, you’d have to work with Nintendo, see what’s possible in terms of releases, what you can do. So, we’ll look into it.
…I would think it’s moreso a matter of time, in a way. But I just don’t know when exactly of how it’s going to work out. You know, if it’s going to get easier and easier to release stuff on Switch 2.
Regarding the original Switch, Felix was more forthcoming:
Switch 1 is something we looked at already and we want to do. So, that’s a given. And then, we’re just checking how it’s going to go with Switch 2.
ININ Speaks Up A Bit About Switch 2 Dev Kits
Shenmue Dojo pressed Felix further. Shenmue Dojo talked to Felix about the rumors about a backlog for Switch 2 dev kits. Felix didn’t say anything about their access to a dev kit directly.
He did, however, say this:
I mean, obviously, some of the very big ones, they got stuff already. But outside of that, it’s going to happen over time. It’s going to get easier and then we’ll just have to evaluate the situation every time and see.
If you can’t tell, ININ is being careful about what they say. They don’t want to be excluded from getting Switch 2 dev kits. If the rumors are true, they are worried that Nintendo will continue to limit access to those dev kits for even longer. If that happens, they won’t be able to make the best version of Shenmue 3 Enhanced for fans.
It isn’t clear why Nintendo chose to implement this policy. They may have serious worries that their current dev kits are insecure. Or they could already be dealing with a security breach.
If the idea is to avoid a gold rush situation, that’s a risky decision. They could be stuck in the future with fewer games to offer and make their console undesirable.
Maybe Nintendo thinks they can hold off 3rd party developers until when the next generation of PlayStation and Xbox consoles arrive. Whatever the logic is, it’s also affecting other game companies and their businesses.
You can watch Shenmue Dojo’s full interview below:
