Shenmue HD remasters are edging closer

With Shenmue 3 pushed into late 2018, instead of 2017, it might be interesting to hear that Sega is very interested in getting the original Shenmue remasters out and about. As a long time publisher, it has a huge list of games that many would like to see again, on current-gen hardware.

The trademarks were registered in January, but ever since then Sega’s been quite quiet on the matter. Perhaps it was the success of Bayonetta and Vanquish on Steam that got them going, so much so that they are even talking about adding Yakuza to the list of PC ports.

Sega’s executive vice president of publishing in Europe, John Clark, says that this is something they “would love to make happen, something we are trying to make happen. I think we want it to happen as much as anybody out there. Yes, it’s a serious task and it’s not a task that we’re not working on, if that makes sense. It’s something we’re actively pursuing.”

Perhaps the greatest of challenges in bringing the original games over to today’s standards lies in renegotiating the licences when it comes to referencing real life products. At the same time, the technology has changed in leaps and bounds and the games will need a little more than a simple paint job or higher-resolution for it to be a proper job.

Clark has also said that they have seen the list of wishes when they launched Bayonetta on Steam and that the titles that the community put up have been on their lists as well for a long time. With what they have already brought to PC in 2017, there is perhaps room for being positive about the future of old Sega’s games coming to modern hardware in the future.