July 2. 2019 If you backed Shenmue 3 and don’t want the Epic store version, Epic will pay for your refund.

Earlier today, Ys Net and Deep Silver announced that Shenmue 3 backers unhappy with the game’s Epic store exclusivity will receive refunds, despite a previous statement that none would be available. Things became a bit more clear after a tweet from Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, who says that the company is footing the bill for refunds – and will do so for any other similar situations in the future. “Epic is funding the cost of all Kickstarter refunds resulting from Shenmue III’s move to the Epic Games store, so that refunds won’t reduce Ys Net’s development funding,” Sweeney says on Twitter. “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.” This comes a few days after Sweeney laid the blame for a lack of Shenmue 3 Steam keys at Valve’s door, suggesting that Epic would be happy to let backers of crowdfunded games get keys on their platform of choice, if Steam restrictions weren’t getting in the way.