Who's developing Shenmue III? While Yu Suzuki is creative director on the project, the game is being developed by Shinjuku-based studio Neilo,. The hotly-anticipated Shenmue III going Epic exclusive has caused a stir amongst PC Kickstarter backers. Developer Ys Net provided an update on the switch, but the studio is still assuaging.
Game studio Ys Net, its publishing partner Deep Silver, and distributor Epic Games have to appease angry fans over the PC exclusivity of upcoming, Kickstarter-backed game Shenmue III.In an upcoming survey, the trio plan to offer refunds to any backers upset the game won’t be available on Valve’s Steam storefront at launch, after. You’ll also be able to transfer your PC version to a PS4 one if you so choose instead, while those who want Steam keys one year after release, once the exclusivity window closes, can request them in the survey.Epic CEO Tim Sweeney also says his company will be covering the costs of these refunds, so as not to deprive Ys Net of development funds it raised via Kickstarter to help complete the game. Sweeney also says that this situation shouldn’t occur again in the future, as Epic plans to communicate refund and Steam key policies upfront to avoid these late-stage predicaments.
When future games go Epic-exclusive after offering crowdfunding rewards on other PC stores, we’ll either coordinate with colleagues at the other stores to ensure key availability in advance, or guarantee refunds at announcement time.— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic)A long-awaited third game in Yu Suzuki’s venerated classic Dreamcast series, Shenmue III, promising PC availability on Steam and to deliver the game by December 2017. RelatedOn the surface, the controversy sounds trivial; PC gamers are generally upset they have to use a different app to launch games on Epic’s platform, unlike the exclusivity arrangement on consoles that stipulates consumers own an entirely different piece of hardware. But the PC gaming community has also, rather than the actual inconveniences it generates. A number of pro-Steam contingents of the community also consider Epic’s store an inferior product to Steam, with the Epic Game Store still missing some key features that have existed for years on Steam.That said, it doesn’t look like Epic’s strategy of securing exclusivity on popular titles is winding down any time soon. Following comments made by Epic Games Store chief Steve Allison during the Game Developers Conference in March that, Sweeney later clarified that the company took time to think it over and decided it would continue securing deals so long as publishers and developers appreciated the terms.Deep Silver, which also had a rocky launch controversy earlier this year when it had to honor Steam preorders after, is clearly interested in such deals.
So is publisher 2K Games, which kicked off perhaps the most heated chapter in this controversy by to Epic. (Like every other Epic-exclusive title, Borderlands 3 will also come to Steam at a later date.) Numerous other developers this year have released or plan to release Epic-exclusive games on PC.Thanks to the success of Fortnite and Epic’s Unreal Engine 4, the company has a significant amount of resources to spend on competing with Steam and, in Sweeney’s eyes, shifting the platform arrangement toward a more developer-friendly revenue split. Sweeney has been outspoken about the strategy in press interviews and on Twitter. Just last week, he, “We believe exclusives are the only strategy that will change the 70/30 status quo at a large enough scale to permanently affect the whole game industry.” And he claims it’s working, as evidenced by the studios and publishers willing to work with Epic and the.