Q: After the release date extension was announced there wasn't a lot that seemed to happen, so fans may also be relieved at learning about your partnership with Deep Silver.
YS: In fact, when I announced the change to the release date, the prospect of a contract with Deep Silver was looking promising. Since I made the decision to increase the game's scale and go with an open world, we had more to do and so the extension came about as a result.
Q: I see. So it wasn't due to the negative reason of development running late.
YS: No, the extension is for a pretty positive reason. In an open-world game, a certain quantity of physical things are necessary. When Shenmue III was at a stage prior to forming a contract with Deep Silver, it was slightly too cramped to be called open world.
Q: Through realizing a partnership with Deep Silver, you are "closer to the ideal" then, would you say?
YS: Yes. To demonstrate with a simple example: the number of NPCs in the second town you reach had been planned at 50 ~ 60, but after increasing the game's scale that number will now be around 200.
