Shenmue 3 Delayed, But Anime Gets February Release Date; Freebies Begin Today on Epic Games Store

Shenmue 3 will not be released in 2018, as publisher Deep Silver has confirmed.

The news, which will come as no surprise to those following the game’s development, comes after it apparently needed more time to be completed.

In a statement posted on the publisher’s official website, Deep Silver announced that Shenmue 3 has been pushed back and will now launch in 2019.

The additional time will be used to further polish the game’s quality to the high standards it deserves and ensure that it is released at the best possible time.

We have only seen a small glimpse of the long-awaited sequel so far, despite the fact that its Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign was launched during E3 2015.

Series megafan Martin Robinson took a look at some screenshots in January and said the game looked to be on the right track. However, Wesley was less complimentary about the next batch of images, which were released the following month.

“The faces are as lifeless as we have come to expect,” wrote Wesley. “Once again, they depict characters with faces that appear to have been taken from a set of mannequins.”

We have been waiting for 17 years since the release of Shenmue 2 – what’s another 12 months?