Yu Suzuki made a Kickstarter update earlier today to address some concerns fans were having over how the budget was being handled, regarding outside sources.

From the Kickstarter page:

Sony and Shibuya Productions have been wonderful partners because they believe in Shenmue and want to see the best for the fans and the game. Their investment in (and support of) Shenmue have helped to realize a sequel that will stand proud with its predecessors. While it is not business practice to discuss the specific details of such arrangements, I can say that with their assistance on the production and marketing end, and in Sony’s case with some publishing support as well, Ys Net is able to use more of the money we collect through Kickstarter purely for Shenmue 3’s development. It is also important to note that your funds are going strictly to Ys Net for development of Shenmue 3 – Sony and Shibuya Productions are not seeing a cent of your Kickstarter dollars.

He went on to clarify that even if Shenmue III doesnt meet all it’s stretch goals, it’ll still be a worthy successor to Shenmue 1 and 2;

Even if these Stretch Goals are not reached, Shenmue 3 will already be a sequel true to its name, and one we can all be proud of. It is my hope though, that together we can make this Shenmue just as revolutionary as the first two were.

As of writing, the Shenmue III Kickstarter has reached 3.6 million dollars with 23 days left to reach all of it’s stretch goals.