UPDATE (Dec 20th 2PM UTC) from GOG:
We’d like to inform you that due to the publisher’s decision, Unreal Tournament 2004 Editor's Choice Edition, Unreal 2: The Awakening Special Edition, Unreal Tournament GOTY, and Unreal Gold will be delisted from our catalog on December 23rd (Friday), 2 PM UTC.
For everyone who purchased any of the games prior to delisting, they will remain in their GOG library.
- For any OzBargain gamers who have not yet purchased any of these Unreal franchise games, they may want to consider purchasing them from GOG before Saturday December 24th 1:00AM AEDT.
Original Dec 14th announcement from Epic Games
Epic Games has delisted most of the Unreal game franchise, several Rock Band titles and other games, from the Steam storefront on the same day as posting their announcement: "Epic is turning off online services and servers for some older games":
December 14, 2022
Starting today, we will begin turning off out-of-date online services and servers for many older games in the Epic family as we move to solely support Epic Online Services with its unified friends system, voice chat features, parental controls, and parental verification features. Most titles will be playable offline, while some will no longer be playable. We apologize to the players affected by these changes.
The following titles will have all online services disabled on January 24, after which players can continue playing single or local multiplayer modes offline:
- 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
We have started removing games that were still available from all digital storefronts and are disabling any in-game DLC purchasing as of today. We also removed the Mac and Linux versions of Hatoful Boyfriend and Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star from storefronts today, as well as the mobile title DropMix. Players who already own these titles will still be able to play.
Battle Breakers will shut down and no longer be accessible to players on December 30. We will automatically refund players for any in-game purchases made via Epic direct payment 180 days prior to today. Unreal Tournament (Alpha), Rock Band Blitz, Rock Band Companion app and SingSpace will be shut down and no longer accessible to players on January 24.
Thank you to all of the players and communities who have enjoyed these titles over the years.
- At time of writing this (Dec 15th 2022), the sole remaining digital storefront that is still currently offering several of the affected games (Unreal Gold, Unreal II: The Awakening, Unreal Tournament: GOTY, Unreal Tournament 2004), is GOG.com - however, these games are currently at their full retail price, the most recent promo sale was in November 2022.
- It is unclear as to how long these GOG listings of the Unreal franchise games will remain, given the very abrupt delisting of the Unreal games from the Steam storefront.
- For any OzBargain gamers who have not yet purchased any of these Unreal franchise games, they may want to consider purchasing them from GOG soon.
I’m actually legitimately surprised these games even had online services still in 2022…