On December 29, Shenmue turned 25 years old. The game was originally intended to be released for the Sega Saturn, but since it was apparent early on that it would flop, Sega decided to go for the Dreamcast instead.
Shenmue became a milestone in every way, and was for a long time the most expensive game production of all time, sporting a level of ambition far ahead of its time. But the Dreamcast was not a commercial success either, and Sega left the hardware world and became a third-party developer.
They then spread their games to Gamecube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox instead with a range of exclusives. The Shenmue series was revived for the Xbox with a version of Shenmue 2 (where the original could be experienced as a video-recap). Many have since wondered why they didn’t go for PlayStation 2 instead – and apparently this was something they had in mind.
In an interview with Famitsu on the occasion of the 25th anniversary, one of the main programmers of the two original Shenmue games, Takeshi Hirai, says that the original was on its way to both Playstation 2 and Xbox (translated with Bing):
“I have actually made a PlayStation 2 version of “Chapter 1” once. We also made an Xbox version, but only “Shenmue II” was released in North America.”
Ultimately, the reason it was not released is not due to exclusivity agreements or similar, but apparently due to rights issues. Another of the main programmers, Makoto Wada, explains:
“I think it was not a technical problem, but a rights problem. You see, you had tie-ups with real companies, such as TIMEX watches and Coca-Cola drinks. That contract was only for the Dreamcast version of “Chapter 1,” so I think it was put away for reasons such as not being available for the versions for other consoles.”
Later in the same interview, it is also confirmed that Shenmue was fully playable on PlayStation 2, and that the team had to reprogram large parts due to major hardware differences.