E3 2015: Sony launches crowdfunded Shenmue 3, popularity breaks Kickstarter

Project became the fastest game ever to reach $1 million, and is well on its way to its target of twice that with a month left to go

Sony launched a new crowdfunded game during its E3 event, Shenmue 3, which is so popular that the Kickstarter couldn’t handle the interest.

It is the fastest game ever to reach the $1 million mark, and the second-fastest project ever to do so, after the Pebble Time. When the project opened in the wake of the E3 announcement, users were hit by errors showing that the site was having trouble loading.

Shenmue 3 is the long-awaited newest addition to the series, which originally was made for Sega Dreamcast. The first of the open world games was released in 1999, and Shenmue II followed in 2003.

The games received huge critical praise when they were released. But the game failed to recoup its huge costs after disappointing sales, and so work on it was discontinued.

It was revived last night at Sony’s E3 event, where the company also showed off a range of other games. Sony said that the crowdfunded game — which will be available for PS4 and PC — would begin as project on Kickstarter and open that evening.

The game has to receive its $2 million target if it is to go ahead. Backers receive a range of rewards for taking part in the project — from getting to participate in surveys and polls to decide the direction of the game, for $5, all the way up to a $10,000 reward that allows backers to go to dinner with the developers as well as other things, all three of which have been bought.