$2m was the necessary amount of money that Yu needed in order to make a game that would continue the story. Considering that I would have been happy this time last week with a visual novel or a comic that continued it, getting a sequel made by the original team is a gift. The figures of $5m and $10m are ambitious yes, but better to start low and work your way up. Otherwise you'll set too high a target to reach and Shenmue 3 might not be made at all, which nobody wants. At this point it's at $3.5m wil 26 days to go. Activity has slowed down a bit, but supposedly that's just how Kickstarters go. If past examples are anything to go by, then a slew of backers will come in at the end of the project and bump it up further. I think $5m is possible, but $10m could be a stretch. Maybe Sony will provide more funding considering how successful the Kickstarter has been thus far but we can't count on that. Yu Suzuki clarified that the majority of the budget will come from Kickstarter and we have to believe him on that. I do think there needs to be more higher tier rewards between the $500 and $10,000 ranges in order to get more people interested, but apparently these will come. Opening a paypal funding page is also a consideration, for fans to continue to donate after the Kickstarter has ended. This happened with Star Citizen, which went on to make another $50m or so after the fact. Yu Suzuki has said he's considering the option.
The figure will certainly not be as high as it took to make the first two games, but we already know that because they're using Unreal 4 rather than the all new engine they used for Shenmue 1 & 2. I think it's ok to ask questions, but some are mislead by inaccurate reporting or outright baseless assumptions from game journalists who should know better that Sony will do the majority of the funding, even when Yu Suzuki and Sony representatives stated
that is not the case. Articles like that spread misinformation and damage the Kickstarter campaign. I've been following the debate a little too closely and I have to step back from it as it just bums me out lol. I have to remind myself that whatever happens, Shenmue 3 is being made and if $2m is happy with Suzuki, then I'm happy. Besides it's even more than that, the game's getting bigger as more money comes in so we're already getting more of a game than promised at $2m which is nice!
There's something of a campaign going, started from the Shenmue Dojo forum, where they're trying to ask existing backers to pledge an additional $30 on the 3rd July. If enough backers do it, we could really bump up the budget by another million or so. I think that would be worth it for the sake of foregoing a few Starbuck's drinks. Of course, don't do it if you're not financially stable enough!
I used to be a regular on Shenmue Dojo back in the day. Had to leave a few years ago though, the place got incredibly toxic. Nice to see it active again after all this time but I dunno if I'll ask to go back.
On a more positive note, one of the questions asked to Yu Suzuki in his Reddit AMA was which was his favourite song from the soundtrack. Is it the sweeping orchestral version of the main theme? Shenhua's theme? Memories of Iwao? No, it's the Tomato Convenience Store song (it is pretty good in fairness!)