Shenmue 3 has been delayed, new release window of 2019 announced

Deep Silver has announced that Shenmue 3's release window has been pushed back to 2019.

The developer has said that "the extra time will be used to polish the quality of the game even further, to the high standards it deserves and release the product in the best possible timeframe."

Shenmue 3 was announced in 2015 when the Kickstarter campaign for the title was launched live on Sony’s E3 stage.

The campaign passed its funding goal of $2 million on the first day, and closed with over $6.3 million, making it the highest-earning video game Kickstarter on record at the time.

Last summer, the game was delayed to the second half of 2018, and even though it seemed likely that it would get pushed back again, Cedric Biscay, founder of Shibuya Productions studio (one of the teams working on the title), tweeted that it was still on track for a 2018 release earlier this year.

While Biscay assured fans that there wouldn't be a second delay, it's not entirely unexpected for a crowdfunded game to experience multiple delays.

We got a glimpse of the first teaser last year, and a dev update from December showcased the game's facial animations, which still looked a scooch off. You can judge for yourself right here.