One of the most suprising announcement to come out of the PC Gaming Show was that Torn Banner Studios and Tripwire Interactive were teaming up to release Chivalry 2, a sequel to the insanely popular Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, for PC. Following the failure of Torn Banner's last game, Mirage: Arcane Warfare, many fans are hoping this new game will be a return to form for the studio. Unfortunately, many fans were rubbed the wrong way when the announcement also revealed that Chivalry 2 will be an Epic Games Store exclusive for one year after launch.

As a PC exclusive sequel to a popular Steam game, this decision angered a lot of hardcore fans. In response to this backlash, Torn Banner took to the game's website today to elaborate on their decision. They even said that "we would never have considered launching on the Epic Games Store if we thought the store we will launch on will be anything like the version it is today. That store simply must improve, and we believe it will."

Apparently, Torn Banner is privy to a lot of information under NDA that leads them to believe the Epic Games Store will be better than it is now when Chivalry 2 launches in 2020. Torn Banner directly admits that "there are many moving pieces still to come into play and more news on its way but we know that criticism about the store itself will be resolved by the time Chivalry 2 is ready for launch. [We are] confident enough to knowingly take the PR hit to the chin for doing so."

Like many developers with Epic Games Store exclusive games, they also highlighted the fact that "Epic has put significant investment and support behind the game and really let us take things to a whole new level that wouldn't be possible without the partnership. This allows us to be in a position where we can deliver Chivalry 2 as a true sequel without compromise...our history of working with them as partners on the Unreal Engine 4 leaves us confident that the Epic Store we will launch on will be vastly improved over what it is today."

Whether this is true or not remains to be seen, but Torn Banner seems to be confident enough to back up their exclusivity decision. There is also something to be said about how they were honest and admitted exclusivity from the start, as some crowdfunded games like Phoenix Point, Outer Wilds, and Shenmue 3 have gotten themselves into hot water for not following through on a promised Steam release.

Chivalry 2 is currently expected to release for PC via the Epic Games Store in 2020 before hitting Steam and other PC game storefronts in 2021.