Epic Games shuts down Unreal Tournament and other games

Epic Games has made a bombshell! A few hours ago, Epic announced it would shut down all “obsolete servers and online services” for older video games on its platform.

In their official statement, Riot has stated that they want to:

“Move to support only Epic Online Services with its unified friend system, voice chat features, parental controls, and parental verification features.”

Games on the list

Epic has stated that, by next January 24, 2023, some of the older titles in its store will no longer be playable online, as, as of that date, all obsolete game servers and services will be shut down.

The developers will also begin removing some of these titles from digital stores and disabling DLC purchases. However, Riot has also noted that most games will still be playable offline if you own them.

Below, we will show you the list of games affected by this measure taken by Riot Games:

• 1000 Tiny Claws
• Dance Central 1-3 (Dance Central VR online multiplayer will remain available)
• Green Day: Rock Band
• Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess
• Rock Band 1-3 (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 (Epic plans to bring back online features via Epic Online Services in the future.)
• Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition

Games will be available offline

As we have mentioned, Riot has stated that players who have these games in their respective libraries will still be able to play them in their offline modes. But those titles based exclusively on the online way, that is, multiplayer, will die completely.

One of the examples of these games that will die completely will be Battle Breakers, a free video game from Epic Games that will no longer be playable from December 30. Epic will refund all money collected from purchases made in this game 180 days before the time of the announcement.

In addition to those titles, Hatoful Boyfriend and Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star have already been pulled from the Mac and Linux stores, but players who already own the games can still play them.

Unreal Tournament 3

Similarly, Epic has indicated that they have plans for Unreal Tournament 3 to have its online features active again.

In addition, the official Steam page has this game with the following message:

” This title is currently unavailable and will be available in the future. Stay tuned!”

But, they likewise describe the game with a “Free” version which:

“Supports cross-play between all PC players, whether logged into their Steam, Epic Games Store Accounts or GOG.”

So it’s very likely that this title will be back very soon.

This decision comes as no surprise

If in any way, many gamers are surprised by this news, then it is not surprising that Epic would decide to close its online servers since several of these titles are more than a decade old.

Similarly, the closure of the Unreal franchise games, which are still very popular, along with the Rock Band games, is the most surprising.

While this pair of developers have sold millions of copies of their games, the number of players in the older titles is likely deficient.

Header: Epic Games