Deep Silver and Ys Net’s decision to make Shenmue 3 an Epic Games Store exclusive on PC has been met with a bit of a backlash from fans. Most of them would prefer to get the game on Steam. With this in mind, the developers have now stated that the Shenmue 3 Epic exclusivity will be assessed when they get back from E3.
When it originally launched back in 2015, Shenmue 3‘s Kickstarter campaign promised that the game would arrive on Steam. However, Deep Silver and Epic recently came to an agreement that will see the game become an exclusive to the latter’s store. Understandably, fans see this as the team breaking its original promise.
Now, this isn’t the only thing that fans are mad about. In addition to the move to Epic, Deep Silver is not granting any refunds to players looking to get their money back because of the move. In response to the inevitable backlash, the team has posted a new update on the game’s Kickstarter page stating that they will “assess” the situation.
“We want to make sure that the Backers are aware that we are listening to their concerns,” states the update. “We kindly ask all our fans to have some patience, we are currently at E3 demoing the game and need to get back to our respective offices to assess the situation and together find a way forward to justify the trust you placed in us.”
Of course, this doesn’t mean that they will be backing out of the exclusivity deal with Epic. That said, even just reconsidering the decision to not grant any refunds should help win back any goodwill that the companies may have lost.
Exclusivity has been something of a sticking point as of late among gamers, especially with Epic pursuing them aggressively for its store. That said, not all companies are biting at exclusivity deals. SNK recently revealed that it turned down an exclusivity offer for its upcoming Samurai Shodown from an unnamed company, assumed to be Epic. Perhaps this can serve as a beacon of hope for PC gamers who would like to get video games on a storefront of choice.
