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Fortnite Developer Epic Games announced today it will no longer provide online services or servers for 17 previous games, including six of the Unreal series dating back to 1998 and will completely terminate access to some additional games. The closures are already starting to be enacted, but will not be completed until January 24, 2023.
According to his blog post announcementEpic has described its decision to stop servicing some online games as part of its move to “solo [supporting] Epic Online Services with its unified friendship system, voice chat functionality, parental controls and parental verification features. Epic didn’t immediately come back Kotakurequest for comment.
The full list of affected games is as follows:
- 1000 little claws
- Dance Center 1
- Dance Central 2
- Dance Central 3 (Epic notes that Dance Central VR’s online multiplayer will “remain available”)
- Green Day: rock band
- The monsters (probably) stole my princess
- Rock band 1
- Rock band 2
- Rock band 3 (Epic notes this Rock band 4 online multiplayer will “remain available”)
- The Beatles: rock band
- Rocket propelled supersonic stunt battle cars
- Unreal gold
- Unreal II: The Awakening
- Unreal Tournament 2003
- Unreal Tournament 2004
- Unreal Tournament 3 (Epic notes that it has “plans to restore online functionality through Epic Online Services in the future.”)
- Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition
Though Unreal Tournament 3 has already been removed from Steam, its description looks like they have recently been updated to reflect Epic’s future plans. It’s now listed as a free-to-play shooter with crossplay between Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG accounts, and “no microtransactions and no strings attached,” the description says.
In addition to changing the online service, Epic wrote that it has already removed the Mac and Linux versions of the bird encounter simulation Obnoxious boyfriendfirst published in 2011, Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday starand mobile game DropMix, just five years old, from digital showcases. As of writing, however, the first two are still available on Steam.
And the last Band-Aid: While you can play those older games if you own them, Epic is pulling off some total shutdowns. Players will lose access to the following titles on the specified removal dates:
- Battle destroyers on December 30th (“We will automatically refund players for any in-game purchase made via Epic Direct Checkout 180 days prior to today,” Epic said in its blog)
- Unreal tournament (Alpha) on January 24th
- Rock Band Blitz on January 24th
- Fellow of a rock band app on January 24th
- Sing Space on January 24th
For some fans, Epic’s seemingly sudden decision to stop servicing games or cancel them altogether comes as a disappointing shock and serves as a writing on the wall for the state of digital game preservation. All I can say is this is your last chance to outdo yourself Rock bands high score.
