Shenmue 3 was originally announced at Sony's E3 2015 press conference, and has since been highly associated with the PlayStation brand. However, with Sony skipping E3 2019, Shenmue 3 was instead featured on the PC Gaming Show stage, where game director Yu Suzuki showed off a brand new trailer for the long-in-development game. This trailer ended with the Epic Games Store logo, revealing that Shenmue 3 is now an Epic Games Store exclusive.

This decision has been proven to be quite controversial already, especially since Shenmue 3 was largely funded on Kickstarter by backers who were expecting to receive Steam keys for the game. The Shenmue 3 Kickstarter page was immediately updated to acknowledge the game's Epic Games Store exclusivity, where the developers attempted to provide an explanation.

"Development for Shenmue 3 has been moving forward using Unreal Engine and the support we have received from Epic has been excellent. But most importantly, in looking for the most enjoyable experience on PC, it was decided together with Deep Silver after much discussion that the Epic Games Store would be the best distribution platform option."

This explanation has not sat well with Shenmue 3 Kickstarter backers who were hoping to play the game on Steam, especially because it seems disingenuous. There is no real advantage to a game releasing on Epic Games Store exclusively instead of Steam, and in fact, the Epic Games Store is lacking in features compared to Valve's digital distribution platform. The real reason is likely due to the generous revenue split that Epic Games offers those who choose to be exclusive to the Epic Games Store.

The Shenmue 3 Kickstarter page is already full of people who claim that they will be demanding refunds since they won't be able to play the game on Steam as they expected when they backed the project. Some have gone as far as to describe the decision as a "betrayal" on the part of Ys Net and Deep Silver.

The backlash to the Shenmue 3 Epic Games Store exclusivity announcement seems to be overshadowing the trailer itself, which has otherwise been met with enthusiasm from the community. Based on the new Shenmue 3 trailer, the game will be delivering a gameplay experience comparable to the first two games in the series, and while that may not appeal to everyone, it should please longtime fans.

Shenmue 3 is launching November 19 for PC and PS4.

Source: Kickstarter