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  • Epic de-listed Unreal from all online stores

    From Spalls Hurgenson@21:1/5 to All on Wed Feb 1 17:17:57 2023
    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.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JAB@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Thu Feb 2 12:04:41 2023
    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?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Zaghadka@21:1/5 to All on Thu Feb 2 14:10:27 2023
    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

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JAB@21:1/5 to Zaghadka on Fri Feb 3 10:37:04 2023
    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.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ant@21:1/5 to JAB on Fri Feb 3 21:02:14 2023
    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 ????/(\_/)]!
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    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)