Kickstarter Update #102 - PC Gaming Show Update: New Trailer & Epic Games Store Exclusive For PC Version! Part 2

Jibby said:
This isn't meant to spark an argument or a debate, or a defense of the EGS, I'm just thinking aloud really. But I do think people might be a little bit too fatalistic over what EGS means for sales and Shenmue IV. Games are still successful on that platform, some even seeing unprecedented sales numbers. Shenmue III can absolutely still sell high volumes there. Potential sales was never the issue here.

But even if people did boycott or decide not to buy the game, Epic guarantees revenue up to a certain amount of sales, whether or not sales actually hit that number. So the revenue it would have made on Steam is essentially guaranteed at this point. That's always been one of Epic's stingy moves to convince publishers to sign exclusivity contracts.

Also consider that a vast majority of people will be playing on console and won't be affected in any way by the Epic decision. That's where the largest chunk of revenue lies and thankfully the Epic deal can never take that away.

That's why I don't think that this whole thing puts Shenmue IV in jeopardy as much as people think. It's not the financial element that we need to worry about. It's more so the sketchy reputation that clings to titles entering into these deals.
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They do benefit, potentially quite a bit, as they get 88% of the revenue (Epic takes 12% of the cut) per unit sold versus 65% on Steam (Valve gets 30% and Epic would've still received 5% per the Unreal Engine licensing agreement). If they also guaranteed revenue up to a certain point, making up for some lost sales, it might not be too bad.

As an example, if Shenmue 3 sells 100,000 units on the EGS at $50, they (presumably Deep Silver and YsNet together) receive $4,400,000 of the revenue. They would've needed to sell 135,385 units on Steam to receive the same amount of revenue. I can't blame Deep Silver for chasing the money, as long as it works out to not just benefit themselves. They also need to not screw over the backers, and work out a deal that benefits them while potentially maintaining the exclusivity for the general public.
 
Yokosuka said:
Can't believe that Yu Suzuki, a man from the old generation, is at the center of this kind of hailstorm, again. Imagine the man being presented the situation, all this fuss about a stupid launcher... World has became crazy he might think. Hopefully things calm down with time and Deep Silver find the solution to get out of this merry mess.
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This is what is the most upsetting that Yu is getting the blame.
 
Yokosuka said:
Still can't blame AJ, neither Deep Silver, YSnet or Epic.

People are just too sensitive for nothing. Zero tolerance. You make ONE thing wrong and you get all the backlash. And the phenomenon is random. You can say "one-year delay", nobody will complain. But if you're saying "another launcher" then BOOM. Nowadays, you must have psychic powers to predict the audience reaction. And when you're not backed by a top console manufacturer or publisher, the task becomes even harder...

Even if I did ask for a Steam edition, I never thought about a refund because I knew Steam was not guaranteed when I decided to give all my saved money to YSnet. They changed their mind, end of story. Few people should feel scammed (late slacker backers, steam buyers) but that's all.

Can't believe that Yu Suzuki, a man from the old generation, is at the center of this kind of hailstorm, again. Imagine the man being presented the situation, all this fuss about a stupid launcher... World has became crazy he might think. Hopefully things calm down with time and Deep Silver find the solution to get out of this merry mess.
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I'm sorry but, while I agree some people are going too far, yes, we can blame some parties involved.

We can blame Deep Silver and Epic for making a deal without thinking of the backers who have nothing to do with the distribution of the game outside the kickstarter.

We can blame Deep Silver and AJ for the terrible marketing or lack of preparation.

We can be fans, but it doesn't mean the parties involved can do no wrong. I think people should stop overreacting in both sides. There are wrongs done on every sides. People overreacting, parties under delivering.
 
Shadow2222 said:
They do benefit, potentially quite a bit, as they get 88% of the revenue (Epic takes 12% of the cut) per unit sold versus 65% on Steam (Valve gets 30% and Epic would've still received 5% per the Unreal Engine licensing agreement). If they also guaranteed revenue up to a certain point, making up for some lost sales, it might not be too bad.

As an example, if Shenmue 3 sells 100,000 units on the EGS at $50, they (presumably Deep Silver and YsNet together) receive $4,400,000 of the revenue. They would've needed to sell 135,385 units on Steam to receive the same amount of revenue. I can't blame Deep Silver for chasing the money, as long as it works out to not just benefit themselves. They also need to not screw over the backers, and work out a deal that benefits them while potentially maintaining the exclusivity for the general public.
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I’m not seeing the fact that Epic do give devs a considerably higher percentage of the revenue when compared to steam, being mentioned in most places. Nothing is black and white, and I imagine this is one of the arguments of why Epic isn’t straight up the devil.
 
I really don't have much to say, but I'm posting anyway if only to dilute out negativity ever so slightly.

Admittedly, I never paid much attention to WHEN in the Kickstarter campaign Steam was talked about (or "promised")...all I cared about was a physical PS4 release. Well, really all I cared about was getting the game, but past that I wanted a physical PS4 disc.

So, while I'm sure I'd be upset to an extent if they decided there would be no PS4 physical disc at this point, I can't really fathom that completely overshadowing the fact that the game I thought wouldn't happen for over a decade IS STILL HAPPENING. And honestly, while it doesn't look AAA (because that would be impossible and absurd to expect on their budget), it looks like it can deliver Shenmue atmosphere, which is what is most important to me.

I haven't read through much of the kickstarter comments, but from what Peter mentioned, anyone wishing harm on Yu Suzuki or YSNet, or honestly any human being over a video game is a) ridiculous b) completely contrary to the spirit of Shenmue.

But unfortunately, the internet seems to shine a light on the darkness and depravity of the human condition.

As for me, I wish health and happiness to Yu Suzuki (and his team). The man gave more to me in Shenmue I and II than I have ever given him. My little $250 Kickstarter contribution doesn't come close to covering it, even if I were never to receive my promised PS4 physical disc. (Disclaimer: not that I'm saying the PS4 physical won't happen, but that it's my only point of reference since I have no opinion on Steam or Epic or PC gaming in general.)

My 2 cents.
 
Most of us were desperate to see Shenmue continue in some form when it was essentially dead in the water.

It’s saddening to see that the release of something a lot of us didn’t believe would ever come to be, is right around the corner but now being blighted by complaints about the overall look (it’s a budget game ffs) and/or whatever seemingly bad business decisions have been made behind the scenes.

I can understand why some people are feeling frustrated but it’s disheartening to see such a toxic change of perspective compared to when all of us would have done almost anything to get this game made.
 
Sh3ppy said:
I’m not seeing the fact that Epic do give devs a considerably higher percentage of the revenue when compared to steam, being mentioned in most places. Nothing is black and white, and I imagine this is one of the arguments of why Epic isn’t straight up the devil.
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Yeah, here is a good article about it.

https://www.polygon.com/2018/12/4/18125498/epic-games-store-details-revenue-split-launch-date

Do I think that the EGS currently stinks as far as features and the way they pull these anti-consumer moves to basically steal games away from Steam (versus a traditional third-party exclusive that was designed that way from the beginning, like Spider-Man for PS4)? Absolutely! Is the store currently better for developers, especially small ones like YsNet? 100%

Of course, the argument could be - "that's great! Why isn't it just launching on both stores then?"
Epic knows gamers prefer Steam, and Deep Silver wants a bigger cut from every copy sold, hence this contract that works for both parties (and makes YsNet look bad, and screws over backers, etc. etc.).
 
squall said:
I really don't have much to say, but I'm posting anyway if only to dilute out negativity ever so slightly.

Admittedly, I never paid much attention to WHEN in the Kickstarter campaign Steam was talked about (or "promised")...all I cared about was a physical PS4 release. Well, really all I cared about was getting the game, but past that I wanted a physical PS4 disc.

So, while I'm sure I'd be upset to an extent if they decided there would be no PS4 physical disc at this point, I can't really fathom that completely overshadowing the fact that the game I thought wouldn't happen for over a decade IS STILL HAPPENING. And honestly, while it doesn't look AAA (because that would be impossible and absurd to expect on their budget), it looks like it can deliver Shenmue atmosphere, which is what is most important to me.

I haven't read through much of the kickstarter comments, but from what Peter mentioned, anyone wishing harm on Yu Suzuki or YSNet, or honestly any human being over a video game is a) ridiculous b) completely contrary to the spirit of Shenmue.

But unfortunately, the internet seems to shine a light on the darkness and depravity of the human condition.

As for me, I wish health and happiness to Yu Suzuki (and his team). The man gave more to me in Shenmue I and II than I have ever given him. My little $250 Kickstarter contribution doesn't come close to covering it, even if I were never to receive my promised PS4 physical disc. (Disclaimer: not that I'm saying the PS4 physical won't happen, but that it's my only point of reference since I have no opinion on Steam or Epic or PC gaming in general.)

My 2 cents.
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Probably the best post I’ve read here.
 
I've spent 2 hours yesterday and 3 hours today reading this forum, the Kickstarter and various websites and I must say that it drained me to the point where I felt like I needed a good cry. I get that people are upset, but (especially as i'm quite a sensitive soul), I just don't get the sheer hatred people are spouting. You'd think that somebody's baby got mauled by a maniacal dog or something.

Yu-san does not deserve this hatred. Deep Silver really fucked up here. It makes last week's delay news absolutely laughable.

That said, people often say that it's always darkest before the dawn.

Tomorrow's showing of the game at E3 may be the dawn.

I can but hope...
 
If it delivers, at least maybe I can get some of the E3 hype back. But, I'm def carrying some sadness on my shoulder these past two days. I think I might go feed a stray cat and pet it if I can...hope when he returns to Ys net coming back to HQ and see the shitestorm awaiting...make a hard-call to turn everything around for the better.
 
WildManofBorneo said:
It would be nice if there was a way for the fans here to get a message out to Suzuki just letting him know that we support him, in the face of all this Steam backlash nonsense.
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He porbably knows not all people are on the "riots" lol.
He has to take into account all of us tho. Not just some of us .
And in business. one of the things you learn very early is that you can't please everybody. It's just impossible.
Even if you make the holiest thing ever made, there will somebody unhappy with it.
 
T
WildManofBorneo said:
It would be nice if there was a way for the fans here to get a message out to Suzuki just letting him know that we support him, in the face of all this Steam backlash nonsense.
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That's a great idea. There was that thing last year where there was a collage of fans with a letter each to make a sentence (around the time of Shenmue I & II re-release announced?) It would be nice to do one with "We love Yu" or something like that.
 
Yokosuka said:
Still can't blame AJ, neither Deep Silver, YSnet or Epic.

People are just too sensitive for nothing. Zero tolerance. You make ONE thing wrong and you get all the backlash. And the phenomenon is random. You can say "one-year delay", nobody will complain. But if you're saying "another launcher" then BOOM. Nowadays, you must have psychic powers to predict the audience reaction. And when you're not backed by a top console manufacturer or publisher, the task becomes even harder...

Even if I did ask for a Steam edition, I never thought about a refund because I knew Steam was not guaranteed when I decided to give all my saved money to YSnet. They changed their mind, end of story. Few people should feel scammed (late slacker backers, steam buyers) but that's all.

Can't believe that Yu Suzuki, a man from the old generation, is at the center of this kind of hailstorm, again. Imagine the man being presented the situation, all this fuss about a stupid launcher... World has became crazy he might think. Hopefully things calm down with time and Deep Silver find the solution to get out of this merry mess.
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I think this is a bad take. I think we can certainly blame Deep Silver.
 
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