Okay, this actually happened several weeks ago, but I only learned
about it today. Basically, Epic pulled almost all its Unreal games -
Unreal Gold, Unreal 2, and all the Unreal Tournament games - from
store shelves. And you just have to wonder why.

I get why it happens sometimes (as much as I grumble about it); a
publisher doesn't want to support an older product, especially if that
support involves live services or servers. Sure, you could make the
argument the cost of supporting those games is minimal, but whether
you're saving $1 million USD a year or $1USD/per year, a savings is a
savings, so I grok the 'why', even if I don't agree with it.

But the classic Unreal titles? Epic hasn't given them any support in
years - all its most recent patches were fan-made, and its not
dependent on Epic-run servers. The games were binary blobs sitting on
other people's storefronts that occasional sent some money into Epic's
bank accounts. They were essentially free money for Epic.

And Unreal is pretty much synonymous with Epic; the franchise is what
propelled Epic to stardom, and the engine is what kept it there.
Refuting these classic games is almost as if the company is making a
statement against this history: "Don't associate us with Unreal;
that's old news, " they seem to be saying. "We're the Fortnite
company; won't you buy a digital hat?" And given how many of the
old-timers who made Epic have left the company - and how Tencent is
increasingly making its mark known - perhaps that's more true than
even Epic would care to admit.

Fortunately, this change doesn't really effect me - I've the old games
on CD, and I purchased the digital editions long ago - but still, it's
sad to see such an influential part of PC gaming history wiped away
for... well, who knows why. Even despite its age, the initial stages
of "Unreal" remain an amazing experience, and "Unreal Tournament" is
still a blast to play. It's a shame new gamers won't get that
opportunity.

On 01/02/2023 22:17, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> Okay, this actually happened several weeks ago, but I only learned
> about it today. Basically, Epic pulled almost all its Unreal games -
> Unreal Gold, Unreal 2, and all the Unreal Tournament games - from
> store shelves. And you just have to wonder why.
>
> I get why it happens sometimes (as much as I grumble about it); a
> publisher doesn't want to support an older product, especially if that
> support involves live services or servers. Sure, you could make the
> argument the cost of supporting those games is minimal, but whether
> you're saving $1 million USD a year or $1USD/per year, a savings is a
> savings, so I grok the 'why', even if I don't agree with it.
>
> But the classic Unreal titles? Epic hasn't given them any support in
> years - all its most recent patches were fan-made, and its not
> dependent on Epic-run servers. The games were binary blobs sitting on
> other people's storefronts that occasional sent some money into Epic's
> bank accounts. They were essentially free money for Epic.
>
> And Unreal is pretty much synonymous with Epic; the franchise is what
> propelled Epic to stardom, and the engine is what kept it there.
> Refuting these classic games is almost as if the company is making a
> statement against this history: "Don't associate us with Unreal;
> that's old news, " they seem to be saying. "We're the Fortnite
> company; won't you buy a digital hat?" And given how many of the
> old-timers who made Epic have left the company - and how Tencent is
> increasingly making its mark known - perhaps that's more true than
> even Epic would care to admit.
>
> Fortunately, this change doesn't really effect me - I've the old games
> on CD, and I purchased the digital editions long ago - but still, it's
> sad to see such an influential part of PC gaming history wiped away
> for... well, who knows why. Even despite its age, the initial stages
> of "Unreal" remain an amazing experience, and "Unreal Tournament" is
> still a blast to play. It's a shame new gamers won't get that
> opportunity.
>

It does seem a bit strange as I can understand them saying they are no
longer going to support online servers/services (I'm not quite sure how
many require this) but for the ones that have a single player mode then
why remove them from sale?

On Thu, 2 Feb 2023 12:04:41 +0000, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, JAB
wrote:

>On 01/02/2023 22:17, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>
>> Okay, this actually happened several weeks ago, but I only learned
>> about it today. Basically, Epic pulled almost all its Unreal games -
>> Unreal Gold, Unreal 2, and all the Unreal Tournament games - from
>> store shelves. And you just have to wonder why.
>>
[snip]
>
>It does seem a bit strange as I can understand them saying they are no
>longer going to support online servers/services (I'm not quite sure how
>many require this) but for the ones that have a single player mode then
>why remove them from sale?

It's all the rage rn. HBO is removing Westworld from their Max service.
Why? Because they can, certainly not because it wasn't popular. Maybe the
last season was embarrassing to them? Maybe Unreal is somehow an
embarrasment to Epic?

As for Unreal, if somebody out there doesn't have it by now, they will
probably never want it. I hope Epic open sources it eventually, so the
nostalgia-enthusiast community can have at it like they did with Quake.

The community can surreptitiously pass around the assets if they can't
buy it anywhere.

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

On 02/02/2023 20:10, Zaghadka wrote:
> On Thu, 2 Feb 2023 12:04:41 +0000, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, JAB
> wrote:
>
>> On 01/02/2023 22:17, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>>
>>> Okay, this actually happened several weeks ago, but I only learned
>>> about it today. Basically, Epic pulled almost all its Unreal games -
>>> Unreal Gold, Unreal 2, and all the Unreal Tournament games - from
>>> store shelves. And you just have to wonder why.
>>>
> [snip]
>>
>> It does seem a bit strange as I can understand them saying they are no
>> longer going to support online servers/services (I'm not quite sure how
>> many require this) but for the ones that have a single player mode then
>> why remove them from sale?
>
> It's all the rage rn. HBO is removing Westworld from their Max service.
> Why? Because they can, certainly not because it wasn't popular. Maybe the
> last season was embarrassing to them? Maybe Unreal is somehow an
> embarrasment to Epic?
>
> As for Unreal, if somebody out there doesn't have it by now, they will
> probably never want it. I hope Epic open sources it eventually, so the
> nostalgia-enthusiast community can have at it like they did with Quake.
>
> The community can surreptitiously pass around the assets if they can't
> buy it anywhere.
>

I did watch a few episodes of Westworld and thought it was an
interesting take on the original film but not interesting enough to keep
me watching.

JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
> On 02/02/2023 20:10, Zaghadka wrote:
> > On Thu, 2 Feb 2023 12:04:41 +0000, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, JAB
> > wrote:
> >
> >> On 01/02/2023 22:17, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Okay, this actually happened several weeks ago, but I only learned
> >>> about it today. Basically, Epic pulled almost all its Unreal games -
> >>> Unreal Gold, Unreal 2, and all the Unreal Tournament games - from
> >>> store shelves. And you just have to wonder why.
> >>>
> > [snip]
> >>
> >> It does seem a bit strange as I can understand them saying they are no
> >> longer going to support online servers/services (I'm not quite sure how
> >> many require this) but for the ones that have a single player mode then
> >> why remove them from sale?
> >
> > It's all the rage rn. HBO is removing Westworld from their Max service.
> > Why? Because they can, certainly not because it wasn't popular. Maybe the
> > last season was embarrassing to them? Maybe Unreal is somehow an
> > embarrasment to Epic?
> >
> > As for Unreal, if somebody out there doesn't have it by now, they will
> > probably never want it. I hope Epic open sources it eventually, so the
> > nostalgia-enthusiast community can have at it like they did with Quake.
> >
> > The community can surreptitiously pass around the assets if they can't
> > buy it anywhere.
> >

> I did watch a few episodes of Westworld and thought it was an
> interesting take on the original film but not interesting enough to keep
> me watching.

I enjoyed the old movie, but I couldn't get into this TV version. It was
pretty though!
--
"God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God." --Psalm 53:2. TGIF & yesterday's Groundhog Day repeated mostly like b4. Old Ant saw his own shadow & still hasn't napped for days! :) Black History Mo. & (L/C)NY 4721 [h2o black ????/(\_/)]!
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )