Ys Net will offer free Steam keys to all Shenmue 3 backers one year after its Epic Games Store release


Ys Net has issued an official statement about Shenmue 3’s platform availability. According to the team, all backers will receive free Steam keys once the game becomes available on Valve’s digital platform.

“In response to backers who have requested Steam keys for their rewards, we discussed offering the keys on the day of release. However, coordination with the sales policies of the involved companies was untenable, and as a result we are not able to make a day one distribution option for Steam keys available.

That we are not able to offer Steam keys for Kickstarter rewards at the time of the game’s release is a great disappointed and inconvenience for those backers who were expecting to receive them. We deeply apologize for the unrest caused by the announcement.”

What this ultimately means is that backers will receive their free Steam keys one year after the game’s release on the Epic Games Store. However, backers will also receive an Epic Games Store key when the game comes out on November 19th.

Ys Net has also confirmed that the PC physical copies will contain a key for the Epic Games Store and the Epic Games Store launcher, and not the actual game data.

Last but not least, Ys Net, Deep Silver and Epic Games announced that refund requests will be honored, and that details concerning the refund request process will be announced in a following update.