*Disclosure: the author of this post was a contributor to the Shenmue III Kickstarter campaign in 2015

Since 2012, fans of SEGA’s Shenmue series have used social media to campaign for the series’ return. Spearheading this effort (among others) was Team Yu, who organized for Shenmue fans to “be heard on the third” by posting Shenmue-related fan content on the third of every month using the #SaveShenmue hashtag.

After years of asking, Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki finally responded in 2015 by announcing that Shenmue III would come to PS4 and PC, while SEGA announced in April that the first two games (originally released on SEGA’s Dreamcast) would be getting re-releases on PS4, Xbox One and PC under the title of Shenmue I & II.

With the re-releases of the original two games coming soon and Shenmue III slated for release in 2019, what more is there to say? “Thank you,” of course. Rather than let a well-intentioned tradition die out, Team Yu is asking Shenmue fans to now be heard on the third by saying thank you to SEGA, Yu Suzuki, and the broader Shenmue fandom for making these dreams a reality.

Here are some of these posts from this month’s rejuvenated campaign:

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What will SEGA fans successfully campaign for next? Jet Set Radio Future HD? Maybe. A western release of Phantasy Star Online 2? You can laugh, but Shenmue III was never supposed to happen either. Remember, you can make anything happen if you consistently pester someone about it. No, that came out wrong. Maybe “the squeaky wheel gets the grease?” Ah, dammit! Forget it. Big congratulations to Shenmue fans for never giving up hope.

You can create your own “auto tweet” over at Team Yu to show your support to the Shenmue fan community, now using the simple, unified #Shenmue hashtag… that is, until we need to crowdfund Shenmue 4 in a couple of years…

-BW

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