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Shovel Knight Retail Version Delayed And Increased In Price, Xbox One Retail Version Canceled
The plans to bring physical copies of Yacht Club Games' acclaimed retro platformer Shovel Knight have shifted around in some dramatic ways. In a blog post on the Yacht Club Games website, the developer detailed the changes that are coming to the impending physical retail release.
First off, Yacht Club announced that the release date for all versions of Shovel Knight's retail release has been pushed back to November 3, three weeks following the original announced release date of October 13. The developer claims that some complications related to the release of the recent Plague of Shadows free DLC led to this. According to Yacht Club Games, it was important for the team to make sure the DLC was included on the disc or cart out of the box, so that factored into the delay.
In other unfortunate news, Yacht Club Games has canceled the Xbox One retail version of Shovel Knight. While the developer doesn't go deep into the details, Yacht Club claims that "publishing policies on that platform" are to blame. Those who still want to play the game on Xbox One and don't care how they obtain it are still able to buy the digital version of Shovel Knight, which Yacht Club states will continue to be updated alongside the other versions. While the team won't completely rule out the possibility of an Xbox One retail launch in the future, they say that the version is in "indefinite limbo" at the moment. Yacht Club also updated with news that it is looking into the possibility of a retail Vita version.
The final piece of news is that Yacht Club has decided to raise the price of the physical version of Shovel Knight from $19.99 to $24.99. The reasoning for this is due to how some retailers display their games. Yacht Club says that some retailers could automatically toss their game in the "bargain bin, depriving Shovel Knight of prime shelf space, if they launched it at $19.99, so in order to avoid that scenario, they decided to push the price to $24.99. According to Yacht Club, those who have already pre-ordered the Shovel Knight retail version at its original $19.99 price-point will have that price honored.
To help make up for this news, Yacht Club games is now including the digital soundtrack with all physical copies. They admit that this is more of an attempt to get the soundtrack in the hands of more players since it is already a "pay what you want" album online, but the developer hopes it will be seen as a nice bonus for those who buy the physical version. Shovel Knight is available now digitally on most major platforms, with the retail version set to hit PlayStation 4, Wii U, and 3DS on November 3.
[Source: Yacht Club Games]
Our Take
It's kind of strange to see a post from a developer that is so honest and lacking in spin. I have to admit, it's refreshing that Yacht Club came right out and gave its fans the reasoning for the changes detailed. I know a lot of players will probably give the Shovel Knight developer a hard time about these announcements, but I'm glad they were so open and honest.
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