“We apologize to the players affected by these changes.” – Epic Games

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CARY – Gamers devoted to some of the biggest titles in the history of video games are about to lose online support – and in some cases the ability to even play online – in news that rattled the industry on Wednesday.

Bye bye, says Epic Games, as it continues to enhance newer titles such as megahit Fortnite, pursues development of the metaverse with billion-dollar investors and continues its antitrust fights with both Apple and Google over their ban of Fortnite.

Headlines sizzled across the internet after what’s not a pun – or exaggeration – to say was epic in scale and impact.

From games such as Unreal Tournament, which helped make Epic the international gaming giant valued in billions of dollars it has become, to numerous titles acquired over the years such as numerous Rock Band, Epic says its turning off support – in some cases immediately with no warning.

Epic Games image

“Starting today, we will begin turning off out-of-date online services and servers for many older games in the Epic family as we move to solely support Epic Online Services with its unified friends system, voice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,” Epic said in the announcement. “Most titles will be playable offline, while some will no longer be playable. We apologize to the players affected by these changes.”

No company executive was quoted in the terse announcement. 

And CEO and founder Tim Sweeney said nothing on Twitter – he’s made 13,000 tweets since 2013 

Sweeney, perhaps the best known executive in the gaming business, has more than 300,000 followers.

Companies moving on from support for titles as games and technology age, the Epic titles it created and acquired – and now drops – is nothing new, of course. Such is tech life.

Here’s Epic’s list of affected titles with notes.

The breakdown

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 3Note: 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 [downloadable content] purchasing as of today,” Epic added. “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.”

Epic closed with a “thanks.”

“Thank you to all of the players and communities who have enjoyed these titles over the years.”