The annual Game Developers Conference is a money-making venture. Its organizers book seminars, bootcamps, tutorials and exhibitions that they believe will sell tickets to interested customers, who fly in from all over the world to network and exchange knowledge with fellow industry workers.
An inside look at how a game as revolutionary as Shenmue was created in the late 1990s, when almost everything had to be built from the ground up with no precedents to guide the process, fits the bill perfectly. By learning about the unique challenges that his team faced and how those obstacles were overcome (or not), today's developers can apply Suzuki's experience to their own projects and either avoid the same mistakes, or tackle their problems with the same unorthodox way of thinking that Yu found necessary to make Shenmue work.
The appeal is obvious, so it made perfect sense for GDC management to contact Suzuki and schedule this engagement. They would pay him, and they in turn would be paid by those wishing to attend such a rare glimpse at a project that essentially moulded the current landscape of videogames.
Then there's Mark Cerny, Yu's former colleague at Sega who presented him with a Pioneer Award at GDC 2011, and hosted a career retrospective in which Shenmue had to share the spotlight and compete for time with many other titles on a résumé rivalled only by Shigeru Miyamoto.
There are more than enough reasons for GDC management to approach Mark (which they're on record as saying they did) to do the honors this time around.
Especially after the attention that general manager Meggan Scavio's tweet generated last March, with a photo of the pair together beneath the ambiguously toned caption, "Mark Cerny & Yu Suzuki talking strategy for Shenmue III. For reals you guys."
Shibuya International, hosts of the Monaco Anime Game Show at which Yu Suzuki appeared just weeks prior to last year's GDC, labelled Meggan's tweet a publicity stunt, and if that's what it was then it certainly worked. The picture was retweeted hundreds of times and made headlines in multiple languages, drawing global attention to the GDC brand amidst the desperate hope that maybe, as she (jokingly?) claimed, this photo op was more than just two old friends catching up at a trade conference.
With that kind of buzz created by just a picture of Mark and Yu posing side by side, GDC management knew exactly what they were doing when they booked this dynamic duo for a Shenmue Postmortem at the following year's event. The current speculation around Sony's interest in Shenmue was just the icing on an already irresistable cake, too sweet an opportunity for any promoter to pass up. And make no mistake, that's what these organizers are - promoters. It's their job to hustle people into the building and put butts on seats by any (legal) means necessary, just like in any other industry - music, boxing, pro wrestling. Promoters make their living by taking advantage of hype and speculation, all too happy to let the public perceive what isn't there if it'll boost numbers at the gate.
So no, this postmortem wasn't put together for the purpose of announcing a new product. Sega didn't "send" Yu Suzuki, Sony didn't "send" Mark Cerny, they were directly hired to make money for GDC management, who book Classic Game Postmortems all the time - this year Zork and Robotron, both over 30 years old, are on the same bill as Shenmue.
But does that mean there won't be some good news? Not at all. If Sony has already struck a deal with Sega to revive the series on PlayStation formats, then it's true they'll never have a better setting to make that fairytale announcement. Yu Suzuki, Mark Cerny, a room full of people with an interest in Shenmue and a live audience watching on a huge gaming news website... it would be perfect. Nobody tasked with relaunching the franchise could ask for more, so if an announcement CAN be made at this stage, then it obviously SHOULD be made at this postmortem. A phone call to Yu, a phone call to Mark, and it becomes part of their presentation. Glorious synchronicity.
However, timing is a *****. Just because March 19th would be the ideal moment to unveil a deal between Sony and Sega, doesn't mean the deal won't take until March 20th to be agreed. Or April 20th. Or October 20th. These things can take time, and GDC wasn't a deadline that either company had set for themselves. The only people saying it has to happen tomorrow are fans who have been swept up in the hype that seduces even the most jaded amongst us into hoping this postmortem will be more than it's advertised to be. Business negotiations don't play by these rules. So just because papers may not have been signed in time for tomorrow's showcase of Shenmue's past, doesn't mean Shenmue's future cannot still be assured in the weeks and months to come.
Our plight as Shenmue fans has never hinged on a single date on the calendar. It's about tweetathons, and winning polls, and making headlines, and raising awareness, and building the pressure... And this happens at a glacial pace, but we are seeing it with our own eyes. It certainly does not live or die on the basis of one busy afternoon in San Francisco.
So whatever happens tomorrow, please do not despair if we don't hear the kind of announcement that some of us have talked ourselves into expecting. The circumstances around this opportunity are perfect, for sure, but they are not essential. All we need is the game, and if its existence isn't let slip until a long and boring shareholders meeting later on, then we won't care that they missed their chance to announce it to the world at GDC. We'll be too busy popping champagne corks.
Furthermore, if plans for Shenmue's revival are finalized later than tomorrow, we would not expect the announcement until much nearer release. GDC would be very early in the development cycle for announcing such a thing, but due to the specific nature of the event an exception would hopefully be made. Otherwise though, if the GDC window is missed, there'd be no reason to rush the reveal for this year's E3; they might as well wait until the usual period of time before release, and not risk the excitement wearing off before the game is ready.
Therefore, crucially, if our California dreaming leads nowhere this week, please resist any urge to take out your disappointment on the PlayStation crew - they remain our best hope before, during, and after GDC. An epidemic of tantrums and sulking after a minor stumble could see us all falling at the last hurdle.
And that's all we want to say, apart from the obvious: Enjoy tomorrow's insight into the development of a groundbreaking videogame (if the stream holds up), and whenever the day comes for us to stick a fork in the
#SaveShenmue campaign, it'll be for the right reasons: triumphant celebration, not short-sighted defeatism. Never give up.
