Shenmue 3 Refunds Now Being Offered for PC Backers

Back at E3 2019, Deep Silver and Ys Net confirmed that Shenmue III would be an Epic Games Store exclusive for PC. As expected, many were unhappy with this decision especially considering the game was funded through Kickstarter. This sparked even more outrage when backers were denied a refund but now Ys Net has provided an updated response to the issue. Stating they will offer refunds to backers.

The post starts with Ys Net going into detail about the decision to be an Epic Games Store exclusive

“As noted in the updates and survey at launch, we had originally planned for PC distribution through Steam. Taking publishing and sales considerations into account, Ys Net and Deep Silver agreed to our partnership with Epic Games Store on PC version distribution. As a publishing partner, Deep Silver has greatly contributed not only to sales and marketing, but to scaling up the game so there is more Shenmue III to begin with. Also, Epic Games has been with us from the start of the project when we adopted Unreal Engine 4 for development, and have given us their support throughout the development process.”

Ys Net did state they discussed giving Steam keys to backers when Shenmue III launched, a similar thing offered to Metro Exodus fans who pre-ordered the game through Steam before the Epic Games Store exclusive deal went through. However, coordination between the companies to do this was simply impossible to execute on day 1. Instead, if the backer decides to wait for a key it will be provided when possible. If the backer decides this is unacceptable they can ask for a refund, which will be honored.

Ys Net included the disclaimer that “in the case rewards within your reward tier, such as in-game content, have already been created and implemented, a full refund may not be possible.” This means if you donated to a specific amount that allowed this digital content to be created then you cannot get a full refund since the content was already created.

Those hoping to bypass the Epic Games Store and go for a physical edition will be sad to hear that the disk will simply include the launcher and not the game data. According to the developers, “the PC Physical version will be delivered on disk. However, the disk will contain the Epic Games Store installer and not the actual game data.” This has become mostly a standard among physical PC games as many physical versions usually serve as a middle man between the launcher and the game.

Shenmue 3 releases for PC via the Epic Games Store and PS4 on November 19.

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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