Sometimes, you need someone to say when they WON’T do something. Unfortunately, Deep Silver won’t do that with their upcoming steampunk RTS, Iron Harvest.
Concern is rising that Iron Harvest will end up being an Epic Games Store exclusive. The cause came from the publisher’s other, more anticipated, game, Shenmue 3, being confirmed as a store exclusive during this year’s E3.
People are worried not only because the two games are being funded the same way (through Kickstarter under the publication of Deep Silver), but also because the company will not actually say if they will make the game an exclusive to the store or not.
Reddit user ItsOtisTime recently posted on the Iron Harvest subreddit, expressing concern for the game. The post gained attention from other users expressing the same concern. Eventually, Iron Harvest’s community manager Sheep_wielder responded.
We are still fully committed to all of our promises to you backers and early supporters, this includes the game being available for Steam and GoG on PC, PS and Xbox. We are certainly aware of some players concerns about DS, but we are entirely focused on getting to full release. The confusion comes because no decision has been made about what will happen after full release and we can’t say anything until we know either way. So much depends on what happens until then. Thanks to your support we were able to secure a good deal with a publisher and with that we can make this game a reality.
While intended to be reassuring, most folks are put off by the “no decision has been made about what will happen after full release and we can’t say anything until we know either way” part. When pressed about this, they responded with the following.
While all current digital downloads will be redeemable via gog or steam. It’s impossible to say what will happen after full release.
This is of little comfort, alas. The publishers are the one in the position to choose the publication platforms, often times against the developer’s desires. They could make the game an Epic Games Store exclusive for one year, releasing on Steam after, and it would still keep true to their promise.
Only time will tell.
