Shenmue 3 Kickstarter closes on $6.3m

$6,333,295 – that’s how much was successfully raised by Shenmue 3 on Kickstarter.

The campaign came to a close over the weekend, with the final total raised from 69,320 backers.

The number makes it the highest ever funded video game and the third highest funded ‘games’ project behind card game Exploding Kitten ($8,782,571) and the Ouya Android console ($8,596,474). It’s also the sixth highest Kickstarter total of all time.

Shenmue was already hailed as the fastest game to hit $1m, taking only one hour and 42 minutes, and the fastest to hit $2m, which it achieved in just over nine hours.

The question now is exactly what will be achievable with the amount raised. Creator Yu Suzuki has previously pegged $10m as the amount he wanted to realise his full vision, although he later distanced himself from these comments.

There’s also the question of what other funding has both already been provided and is still being sought. Is Sony chipping in financially? And what sort of transparency can be expected from Ys.

Ultimately none of this will matter to fans whose sole concern now will be what game will eventually be delivered. The current due date is December 2017.