SEGA Europe: Shenmue I and II remakes have “our full attention”

Ever since Shenmue III was announced as finally being a reality last year, many have wondered whether SEGA would release the first two games prior to Shenmue III‘s release. According to a recent interview with MCV, SEGA of Europe boss Jurgen Post states that the Shenmue I and II remakes have their “full attention.”

“There is definitely a desire [to go back to our classic games]. Even online, people are constantly talking about products they would like to see come back, and Shenmue 1 and 2 are probably in the top two places. We are looking into it, it’s an old IP, it is a beloved IP – and not just by consumers, but also within SEGA, we have people saying that if we could do Shenmue 1 and 2 all over again, we’d definitely go for it.

The issue is that it is a big game. It is a project from many years ago. If we are to do it, we’d want to do a fantastic conversion to the current platforms, and there are a lot of licences in the game, which were cleared many years ago, so we will need to renegotiate those contracts. We are looking into it. We haven’t given it a green light, but it has our full attention”

Shenmue III is scheduled to be released in December 2017 through Yu Suzuki’s development studio.