Epic Games announced today they're killing off a bunch of classic games removing them from stores and turning off their online services for retro delights like Unreal Tournament.
Why are they doing this? They're consolidating their services directly into their modern all-in-one Epic Online Services, so they don't want anything not using that to stick around that they have to maintain.
Here's the full list of titles being removed from stores (some are already gone like Unreal Tournament), and having their online play turned off on January 24 - 2023:
- 1000 Tiny Claws
- Dance Central 1-3
- Note: Dance Central VR online multiplayer will remain available
- Green Day: Rock Band
- Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess
- Rock Band 1-3
- Note: Rock Band 4 online multiplayer will remain available
- The Beatles: Rock Band
- Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars
- Unreal Gold
- Unreal II: The Awakening
- Unreal Tournament 2003
- Unreal Tournament 2004
- Unreal Tournament 3
- Note: We have plans to bring back online features via Epic Online Services in the future.
- Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition
Hopefully the community (like perhaps OldUnreal), will find a way to get online going again for some of the classic Unreal Tournament games. Otherwise, that's a whole lot of FPS history being lost.
For Unreal Tournament 3, it looks like they're re-branding it as Unreal Tournament 3 X and making it free to play, as you can see they already did it on the Steam page and you can see all the changes on SteamDB history but it's not actually live they're just re-purposing the Steam page.
On top of that they also said they're removing Linux and macOS versions of Hatoful Boyfriend and Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star today. No reason given for either.
If you do want to stock up, the old Unreal games are still on GOG but probably won't be for long.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Well that sucks. Hopefully a community version of the server tools will pop up.
8 Likes, Who?
They don't even host the online play in 2k4, they migrated that to steam's server browser instead of their services a while ago...this is just petty. Thankfully it'll still be playable as everything in 99/2k4 is just direct ip join anyways (the browser just downloads a list to your client, so a manual list can just be made available) but still...
13 Likes, Who?
I have physical copies of all those Unreal games, back from a time when I was a fan of Epic games. They were good times. Couldn't care less these days.
9 Likes, Who?
slaapliedje Dec 14, 2022
I have physical copies of all those Unreal games, back from a time when I was a fan of Epic games. They were good times. Couldn't care less these days.They still have fun potential on retro machines.
I still remember players of UT2k4 accusing Matrox Parhelia users as cheating with their 3 monitor setups! I had one, it was... pardon the pun, epic.
5 Likes, Who?
More “good news”.
On the other hand. If they want to pretend that Unreal/Unreal Tournament never happened, it means we can all get access to the source code, right?
On the other hand. If they want to pretend that Unreal/Unreal Tournament never happened, it means we can all get access to the source code, right?
4 Likes, Who?
So many hours dumped into UT99/2003/2004, thanks to icculus! Oh the fond memories, when Epic was still a brand to cheer for... I still have the physical copies of all of them.
15 Likes, Who?
Well, it had been a while since they've had negative publicity in the press; guess it was time to make sure people don't forget to avoid them.
25 Likes, Who?
hi
you can still get Unreal Tournament 2004 Editor's Choice Edition, Unreal 2: The Awakening Special Edition, Unreal Tournament GOTY, Unreal Gold on GOG
and for the other games is Epic Games wanting new players to set sail to get a copy??
you can still get Unreal Tournament 2004 Editor's Choice Edition, Unreal 2: The Awakening Special Edition, Unreal Tournament GOTY, Unreal Gold on GOG
and for the other games is Epic Games wanting new players to set sail to get a copy??
3 Likes, Who?
I honestly did not expect them to still have any of those running.
1 Likes, Who?
I wonder how much maintaining these servers costs? there are places where you can rent a multiplayer server for 10-15 bucks. Either Epic is really desperate cutting costs or dunnoh because it doesn't adds up.They don't even host the game servers themselves, just the master server which does nothing but validate the "cd key" and provide a list of ip addresses and names for the servers. (when you bring a server online it connects to the master to add to the list), you could literally host the service on a RPi3 in someone's closet, and it wouldn't even break a sweat. Them taking it online doesn't kill the ability to play, it just kills the ability to find servers through the ingame server browser, and the ability to ban by account (instead of IP).
otoh Epic Online services is so great that it doesn't work with their inhouse games, It's like Left for dead or Portal not working with Steam imao.
The game servers themselves especially for 99/2k4 I was running back until 2010ish, I ran a few and my average cost back then was around ~$2-3/month per server.
It's clearly not a cost savings thing though, half the games on that list are single player.
3 Likes, Who?
Oh, as far as archival of UT2k4 content goes, if anyone ever needs a file feel free to hit me up on masto at @[email protected] , I have a cache of every single file (every map/mod/texture pack/etc) from every single 2k4 server that I built from my own backups when I ran servers and connecting and skimming cache from the 2k4 client itself over years and years...If you're looking for something I probably have it, it's a 675GB backup. I'm fairly sure I have every map, texture pack, sound pack, weapon pack, etc ever made as well as server specific variants.
4 Likes, Who?
ElectricPrism Dec 14, 2022
This is why Offline, P2P and LAN are still important.
10 Likes, Who?
"Notice: Notice: Unreal Tournament 3 X is no longer available on the Steam store."
... that didn't age well i guess
... that didn't age well i guess
0 Likes
"Notice: Notice: Unreal Tournament 3 X is no longer available on the Steam store."It's because they're updating an old page for the new edition.
... that didn't age well i guess
0 Likes
slaapliedje Dec 14, 2022
On the bright side, looks like I already have Unreal, Unreal II, Unreal Tournament GOTY, 2k4 and III on Steam.
So screw you Sweeney!
So screw you Sweeney!
2 Likes, Who?
At least there is now an official line drawn between Epic MegaGames and Epic Games.
As for the master server, as with many late 90s multiplayer FPS, players have been using their own server lists for a long time now.
I just hope that some day, a (yet to be known) dev is going to release titles as groundbreaking as Quake 3 or UT, so that we can live another golden age of the arena shooters...
As for the master server, as with many late 90s multiplayer FPS, players have been using their own server lists for a long time now.
I just hope that some day, a (yet to be known) dev is going to release titles as groundbreaking as Quake 3 or UT, so that we can live another golden age of the arena shooters...
1 Likes, Who?
Mountain Man Dec 14, 2022
I remember when Unreal Tournament 2004 was released with a picture of Tux in the list of supported operating systems. For some time, UT2004 was the game to play on Linux.
Ah, the good ol' days.
Ah, the good ol' days.
2 Likes, Who?
pleasereadthemanual Dec 15, 2022
Hatoful Boyfriend was released in 2014. The game hasn't been updated since 2016—it puzzles me why the only update this game has received in over 6 years is removing versions for another platform. And this was done silently, without an official announcement.
Very strange.
Very strange.
3 Likes, Who?
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