Epic Is Covering Shenmue 3 Refund Costs, Will Work To Prevent Repeat Incidents

Epic Games have announced that it will bear the brunt of the refund costs for players dissatisfied with Ys Net’s decision to release Shenmue 3 as an Epic Games Store exclusive, breaking a Kickstarter promise that backers would be guaranteed Steam codes.

Ys Net yesterday outlined that they would allow backers to request the game on PC or PS4, either physical or digital, if they weren’t happy with the current arrangement. They will also honour the Steam codes if these backers were willing to wait a full year, and if backers still aren’t happy, they can request a refund. That said, Ys Net have also said that depending on the reward tier, full refunds might not be possible

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney then revealed on Twitter that Epic Games would be fronting the cost of the refunds so that Ys Net and publisher Deep Silver wouldn’t have to worry about cutting its budget to account for said refunds. Sweeney also revealed that Epic Games will co-ordinate with other storefronts to ensure situations like this don’t happen in the future.

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) July 2, 2019

While this is a good move by Epic that both honours the refunds that players want while also ensuring that Ys Net and Deep Silver don’t bankrupt themselves giving money back hand over fist, it’s likely that this won’t be enough to salvage an already tattered reputation. What are your thoughts on this whole situation? Sound off in the comments.

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