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ININ Games Acquires Shenmue III Game's Publishing Rights, Teases Plans for Series' Future

ININ Games and YS-Net announced on Thursday that the publishing rights for the Shenmue III game have transferred to ININ Games. The companies stated that "the story of Shenmue is far from over," and that they "are honored to carry the Shenmue torch forward." ININ Games also said that it has plans to celebrate the series' 25th anniversary and Shenmue III's fifth anniversary, and will announce more details in the future.

Shenmue III was originally slated for release in December 2017, but was pushed back to the second half of 2018 and then to 2019. The game was then slated for release in August 2019, but was delayed again before finally debuting in November 2019. The game released in November 2019 for PS4 and PC via Epic Games Store. The game debuted on Steam in November 2020.

SEGA released the first Shenmue game on its Dreamcast console in Japan in 1999, and in North America in 2000. The company released Shenmue II on the Dreamcast in Japan in 2000, and in North America in 2001. Shenmue II also received an Xbox version in 2002. The series was originally planned as a trilogy. Sega released the Shenmue I & II game collection in North America and Europe for PS4, Xbox One, and PC in August 2018.

Crunchyroll and Adult Swim announced their collaboration to produce Shenmue the Animation, an anime series adaptation of Yū Suzuki's Shenmue game series in 2020. The anime premiered in February 2022 on both Crunchyroll and Adult Swim. Toonami aired the show in North America with an English dub, and Crunchyroll streamed the English-subtitled version worldwide outside of Japan and China. The series premiered in Japan in April 2022.

Shenmue creator Suzuki and YS-Net previously released a game titled Air Twister for iOS devices on Apple Arcade in 2022.

Source: Press release