In the latest of a series of questioning decisions regarding the release of the long-anticipated Shenmue III, developers Ys Net have confirmed that backers of the game’s Kickstarter campaign must separately purchase the game’s season pass.
On July 10th, a backer named Antonio Miranda posted a communication he received from Ys Net after inquiring about the games season pass and promised ‘trial version’ (a playable demo of the game for backers who have chosen PC as their platform). In the communication, Ys Net informed Miranda that, not only did the trial version of Shenmue III not have a confirmed release date, but that pre-order bonuses and the season pass will not be complimentarily provided to Kickstarter backers and that this extra content must be purchased separately:
“I just got a reply from YS Net regarding Season Pass and Trial Version: (tl:dr – backers won’t get content in pre-orders/deluxe edition, including the season pass)
Dear Antonio,
We apologize for the long delay in responding. Your feedback is appreciated and we will look into having your noted points in future updates.
Standard and deluxe versions released through retail sales are not affiliated with the crowdfunding campaign, so will not be included with backer pledges, however, they will be available for sale separately. Kickstarter Backers will receive the Kickstarter version, Slacker Backers will receive the Slacker Backer version. Both have unique content respective to their versions not available in the retail versions.
A season pass is not included.
Trial version release date info has yet to be confirmed and will be announced in the updates when details are available. You will be receiving your trial trial version, but we must ask for your patience for a little longer.
There will be more information following in the days ahead concerning updates.
Sincerely,
The Shenmue III Team”
On the Shenmue III Kickstarter page, the backer rewards indicate that players would receive a copy of Shenmue III, but does not mention DLC or a season pass as promised rewards for backers as the season pass was announced at E3 2019 several months after the games Kickstarter was completed in September 2018.