Shenmue III Kickstarter Campaign Flip-flops on Steam
I own the original Shenmue for Sega Dreamcast. I also own Shenmue II for Xbox. Additionally, I own the Shenmue I & II collection for Xbox One. While I may not be the biggest fan ever of the *Shenmue *series, I can say that I am at least a fan. Given this, when I heard the announcement a few years back about Shenmue III coming to Playstation 4 and PC, I was quite excited. I was so excited, in fact, that I decided to get a Kickstarter account and send $200 to the campaign. Considering I had just graduated from graduate school and didn't have a job, that was quite a bit of money for me to justify. I didn't own a PC that could ever run the game and I never thought I would, so I decided I would get a PS4 when the time comes just to play the game.
Now, however, I'm a little unhappy about the whole situation. You see, I have a PC that can run the game. Additionally, I can't name many games on PS4 that I actually want to play. So for the past two months I've been thinking that I would just hold on to my sealed PS4 copy of the game and buy Shenmue III on Steam when it came out. That was before Sunday when I received an email stating that Shenmue III will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store. After the Kickstarter campaign explicitly stated multiple times that PC digital recipients would receive a Steam key for the game, the publisher has come out and said that the Epic Games Store would be the best platform to distribute on. Translation: we were given a huge wad of cash to put the game on the Epic Games Store instead of Steam.
As expected, fans and backers of the campaign have been livid about this decision, flooding Facebook, Twitter, and the Kickstarter page with requests for refunds. According to the publisher, these refunds will not be honored, and Kickstarter doesn't care. So fans who were promised the game by way of Steam are instead being given the game by way of Epic Games Store, which has already had its fair share of controversy. While this may not fall under a proper "bait and switch", it certainly feels that way to the fans who put up their money to receive a promised product.
Though I'm receiving the physical PS4 edition, I'm unhappy enough that I have considered requesting a refund too. On principle alone, the publisher should not receive any of my money for promising one thing and delivering another. I'm not so concerned that the game is available on the Epic Games Store, it's that it is being billed as exclusive to that retail channel that bothers me. Everyone should be able to get the game from their preferred retailer, such as Steam. This is the same way that everyone should be able to choose where their child gets a publicly-funded education, but I suppose that's another matter for another audience. I'm reminded of the NFL exclusivity arrangement that EA did back around 2005. This was because 2K Games was competing with EA's Madden, so EA bought the exclusive rights to the NFL license in order to eliminate the competition. Epic Games Store doesn't want to compete with Steam, so it's buying exclusivity arrangements for games.
According to some outlets Shenmue III will be a timed exclusive for the span of one year, but I'll believe it when I see it. That is, I have yet to see official communication by way of Kickstarter or a Ys Net email. The Steam Store page is currently active. Outrage regarding this move appears to run deep, and I think this will be detrimental to Shenmue III, Kickstarter, and the Epic Games Store. The reason for this is simple: I've already waited 18 years to play this game - do they really think I'm unwilling to wait another? Just like Phantasy Star Online 2 (article coming soon), I've already been through the stages of grief on this one, so not playing it for an extra year is nothing to me, and I'm certain that it's the same for other fans of the series as well.
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