While Epic Games is best known for the free-to-play juggernaut that is Fortnite, it found initial fame with 1998's graphically stunning Unreal, which was followed by online shooter Unreal Tournament a year later.
Both games are no longer available for download digitally, but Epic has given its blessing for The Internet Archive to host installation files which allow anyone to download and play them.
As reported by Game Developer, a post was made on the Old Unreal Discord server which outlines Epic's view on the situation:
The disc image files are here and here, but you can use Old Unreal's Windows-based installers for both if you fancy an easier ride (those can be found here and here).
The Unreal series effectively ended in 2007 with Unreal Tournament 3, and the servers for that game were shut down in 2022.
A free-to-play version of the game, entitled Unreal Tournament 3X, was mooted but seems to have been cancelled.
[source gamedeveloper.com]
Comments 8
Good on them! Wish more companies did this.
Cool.
I'll stick with my GOG versions though.
It's of course very nice of them, but I can't help but feel that almost nobody will play these games since there are better, more recent versions of them, except for research and a little bit of nostalgia of course. So it's not something a publisher would do for a more evergreen game for instance.
That being said, I just wish a law would prevent right owners from suing someone distributing their games as long as they're not currently sold.
@RootsGenoa
Would be better off course if they just had a dedicated download page, with standalone installers for these games anybody could download.
What with Rockstar once did with some of their older games.
But with the state of industry, the way it is these days . ( you own nothing and wil be happy ! ) We take what we can get .
What a coincidence! Since last week my co-workers and me play UT99 Deathmatch on my newly self hosted UT99 server! Nice to know that they can get the game legally now. 😁
Epic my GOATS
Free is free and they're both classics so good on ya Epic. You already have kajillions in the bank so it's not hurting your margins one bit to do something nice. In fact keep it up because this sort of thing generates goodwill. It wouldn't completely absolve you of Commander Sterling-esque "Triple AYYYY" sins but if it makes us happy it can't be that bad...
This is kind of sad in a way since it means Epic isn't interested in remastering or reviving the series.
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