Shenmue 3 Dev Explains Why PayPal Backers Won't Get Kickstarter Rewards

Shenmue III developer Ys Net has offered an explanation as to why PayPal backers are not getting Kickstarter rewards, despite the results of a recent poll suggesting that's what people wanted.

Here's a recap of what happened.

Over the holidays, Ys Net asked supporters whether or not Shenmue III backer rewards announced as Kickstater-exclusives should be made available to PayPal "Slacker Backers." The results of that poll were released this week, with the majority of people saying "Either is fine with me," followed by "Yes, please make the Kickstarter-Exclusive Rewards available on PayPal." The smallest portion of people said, "No, Kickstarter-Exclusive Rewards are for Kickstarter only."

Despite more respondents saying the Kickstarter-exclusive rewards should be made available to PayPal backers, developer Ys Net has decided to stick to the original plan.

Now, an Ys Net representative tells PC Gamer that its "foremost consideration" is keeping true to the promises made during the original Kickstarter campaign.

"The majority of respondents did not feel strongly enough about exclusivity to vote either yes or no," the spokesperson said. "While the votes in favor of removing exclusivity marginally outnumbered those against, they did not represent a majority opinion in the poll. The poll numbers do show that there are also many backers who do not wish to give up their exclusive rewards. We feel that the logical conclusion to these results is to leave exclusivity as it is because there was not enough support to justify making an exception to go back on our original promise."

The Ys Net representative went on to say that it has received "numerous requests" to remove exclusivity from some Kickstarter rewards and make them available to the Slacker Backer campaign. The goal of the poll was to help Ys Net get a better idea of how the Shenmue III backer community felt "since we could not be sure that the requests we received represented the opinion of the vast majority of the backers."

Everyone who pledged at $5 or above during Shenmue III's original Kickstater run could vote in the poll, which ran December 24-January 1. Of the 68,533 people eligible to vote, there were 15,110 respondents.

Some of Kickstarter-exclusive backer rewards for Shenmue III are things like a desktop wallpaper set and in-game items such as a capsule toy and a "wishing plaque" featuring the backer's name and birthdate.

Shenmue III's Kickstarter campaign raised more than $6 million last summer, blowing past its $2 million target. The "slacker backer" campaign was launched after the Kickstarter campaign ended, allowing people to continue to support the game. This second crowdfunding wave ran through the end of 2015.

Finally, the Ys Net representative said there are no current plans to offer PayPal-exclusive rewards as a means to level the playing field somewhat, though it's not been ruled out entirely.