Shenmue III developer, Ys Net, announced that Keiji Okayasu has joined the development team for the upcoming title. Okayasu served as Sub-Director for the first game in the series and also played “a big role through most of Shenmue II,” according to an update on the game’s Kickstarter page. The developer further wrote:
We are very happy to have back this Shenmue veteran who helped deliver the goods the first time around, and look forward to him doing it again.
Okayasu also appeared in a brief video interview, in which he revealed that Yu Suzuki approached him to offer the role of Sub-Director for Shenmue III. Although he was with the series since the very beginning, Okayasu didn’t actually see the second game through to the end. However, his departure for other interests came after a mutual understanding between himself and Suzuki.
Okayasu said he wants to do his part to make fans of the series happy alongside attracting new players.
Shenmue III is scheduled for release by the end of next year for the PlayStation 4 and PC.
[Source: Kickstarter]
