Shenmue 3 Kickstarter Backers Will Get Steam Key With One-Year Delay

The Shenmue 3 Kickstarter has been an incredibly successful disaster.  On one hand, it’s been a incredible financial success for the developers making the game.  On the other, it revealed that you don’t always no what you’re signing up to back.  It was recently revealed that Shenmue 3 would be an Epic Games Store exclusive and that left many backers wondering what that meant for people who play on Steam.

YSNET has announced just how Shenmue 3 will be distributed.  Those looking for a Steam Key for the game will need to wait for one-year after release.  As for Physical disc purchases, backers will get a physical disc and an Epic Games Store key.  This disc will contain the Epic Games Store installer and NOT the actual game data.  As expected, the digital release will just be a key for the Epic Games Store.  As for the PlayStation 4 version, nothing seems to have changed at all. However, YSNET says that if you had previously picked the PC version and want to switch to PS4 you can do so.

In this announcement of their Shenmue 3 distribution plans it has also been revealed that if this is not acceptable to backers they can request a refund.  However, there is a caveat.  “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.”

Yu Suzuki offered this in the announcement, “I first want to thank all of you for your enduring support from the bottom of my heart. This announcement was made in the coordination of all our partners. As such, it was not presented in a timely fashion which I apologize for. We have at last been able to report the results of the project team’s review of the EGS exclusive distribution deal.

The project team is currently concentrating on finishing up to release the game. We are working hard to deliver a game better than hoped even if by a little for the announced release date. Along with the significant project changes at the heart of this announcement, there have been many other changes since our original assumptions. I believe, however, that the game overall has been strengthened and that Shenmue III has assuredly been transformed and is heading in a positive direction.”

Shenmue 3 is set for release in November 2019 on PC (via the Epic Games Store) and PlayStation 4.