Ys Net and Epic will 'assess the situation' on Shenmue 3's Epic Store exclusivity

Shenmue 3 developer Ys Net, publisher Deep Silver and Epic Games have promised to "assess the situation" on Shenmue 3's Epic Games Store exclusivity following concerns from fans.

This week, Ys Net and Deep Silver confirmed that Shenmue 3 would be a one-year Epic Store exclusive, despite recently mentioning a Steam version in Kickstarter updates and system requirements. In a fairly cryptic joint statement on Friday, Ys Net, Deep Silver and Epic Games said that "we want to make sure that the backers are aware that we are listening to their concerns.

"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."

Promising to "assess the situation" doesn't mean Epic will lose exclusivity, but it shows that all parties are at least mindful of fans' anger, which has led some backers to request refunds on Kickstarter. No doubt we'll hear more in the coming week.

Samuel is a freelance journalist and editor who first wrote for PC Gamer nearly a decade ago. Since then he's had stints as a VR specialist, mouse reviewer, and previewer of promising indie games, and is now regularly writing about Fortnite. What he loves most is longer form, interview-led reporting, whether that's Ken Levine on the one phone call that saved his studio, Tim Schafer on a milkman joke that inspired Psychonauts' best level, or historians on what Anno 1800 gets wrong about colonialism. He's based in London.