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Some People Aren't Happy About This Shenmue 3 Backer Rewards Update

Kickstarter-exclusive rewards will not be available to PayPal backers, despite poll results.

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Shenmue III developer Ys Net has shared the results of a poll in which it asked supporters whether or not backer rewards announced as Kickstater-exclusives should be made available to PayPal "Slacker Backers." Not everyone is pleased with decision the developer arrived at.

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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.

As you can see in the graph above, the majority of people (6,432) answered, "Either is fine with me," followed by "Yes, please make the Kickstarter-Exclusive Rewards available on PayPal" (4,670) and "No, Kickstarer-exclusive Rewards are for Kickstarter only" (4,009).

However, 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.

"Considering the strong response from those of you who felt that the Exclusive Rewards should remain exclusive for the Kickstarter, those Exclusive Rewards will not be made available on the PayPal page as originally promised," the studio said.

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This decision isn't going over well with all backers. Several people writing in the comments (only backers can post comments) are voicing their discontent for this announcement.

"Pretty shocking to hear that even with the larger number of votes saying backers were fine with PayPal backers getting exclusive rewards are getting no voice," one person said. "Even more awful that the third option doesn't have a voice at all. They said they didn't care which is more like a yes vote. Why bother have the poll if you aren't going to stick with the results."

Others, meanwhile, say they support Ys Net's decision to handle the campaign how it sees fit.

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.

The game is scheduled to come to both PC and PlayStation 4. Sony is helping to market and produce Shenmue III, but won't be receiving any of the money raised through Kickstarter.

Ys Net has said it is aiming for a December 2017 launch.

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