(Photo: Sega)

HD re-releases of fan favourites Shenmue & Shenmue 2 on modern consoles became hotly requested after Shenmue 3’s earth-shattering announcement at E3 2015. Since then, we’ve heard occasional rumors that such remasters may actually be happening. WWG can now share that we’ve heard rumors from multiple sources linked with SEGA, claiming Shenmue 1 & 2 HD are real and are expected to release in the not-so-distant future.

Our sources have claimed that the project has been in the works since 2016, and was originally scheduled to be announced some time around E3 2017 in June, but was held back for unknown reasons. It is possible this was done to find a more appropriate venue where it wouldn’t have to share the spotlight with so many big, new games, but that’s just one writer’s speculation.

As you would imagine, it is supposedly a collection of both original Shenmue games remastered in HD. It’s rumored to be coming to Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Whether or not the games will also arrive on Nintendo Switch is not something we are able to rule out definitively, but given the timing and lack of information about a Switch version, it seems unlikely (at least for now).