Followers despair about ‘placing your hope in Epic’ because the writer purges all point out of Unreal Event game it unintentionally introduced final 12 months

Bear in mind late final 12 months when Epic took a scythe to its back-catalogue, delisting virtually each single Unreal game? On the time, the blow was softened by the information that Unreal Event 3 would develop into Unreal Event 3 X, a free model of the basic with full crossplay between PC storefronts, zero microtransactions, and “no strings hooked up”. 

It was by no means actually introduced by Epic, thoughts you. Followers acquired wind of it because of the Steam description for UT3 (seen on this archived model), which was up to date across the time Epic was happening its delist spree to incorporate a full description of the brand new model. I suppose there was a purpose Epic by no means made an enormous splash about it, although, as a result of it now seems to have been memory-holed.

A current update to the UT3 Steam web page, noticed by Wario64 on Twitter, has purged all point out of Unreal Event 3 X: Its identify, its options, even the date on its copyright has been reverted to 2007 from 2022. As an alternative, the web page is now virtually similar to the way it appeared in the course of final 12 months, earlier than Epic delisted it (you possibly can see your self by evaluating the present UT3 Steam web page in opposition to an archived model).

Many followers have taken this to be the quiet cancellation of the UT3X challenge, and Epic hasn’t mentioned something to dispel their despair. When requested for remark by Kotaku, an Epic spokesperson solely mentioned that the corporate had “nothing to share”. I’ve additionally reached out to Epic for remark, but it surely’s but to get again to me. I am going to update this piece if it does.

Over on the Unreal Event subreddit, gamers have reacted with resignation and disappointment. “No shock, it was precisely what I used to be anticipating,” mentioned Sudden-Anyone-6677, echoing a remark from one other person—abysmalentity—that “placing your hope in Epic” is “simply asking for distress”. 

One other person, hypnopt, summed up folks’s response to the information succinctly: “I dunno how I maintain getting disillusioned as an alternative of simply assuming at all times the worst and having under 0 expectations something UT associated”.

After all, it is essential to notice that somebody enhancing a Steam web page will not be, historically, how corporations announce video games have been cancelled (although conversely it is typically not how they announce they’re being made, both). It may very well be that Epic nonetheless has plans for UT3X even when it is leaving the usual UT3 web page as-is. Maybe that is all a prelude to the revealing of a brand new, separate web page for UT3X.

Or maybe not. I’ve to confess I am cynical. Provided that UT3X by no means acquired an actual announcement and Epic is not hurrying to guarantee people who the challenge has not slipped beneath the waves, I would be shocked if it reappeared down the road. With Fortnite nonetheless making the corporate a completely debilitating sum of money, it is in all probability arduous to get the higher-ups to care about outdated stuff like Unreal. It seems like we would must depend on the followers to maintain these video games alive for the foreseeable future.