Source: UT Shelved for Several YearsEngine guru Tim Sweeney confirms Epic's plans to sideline the UT series for "several years" in an interview with G4. Insteadl, Epic will be focusing on the Gears of War franchise as well as a number of unannounced titles.
“Unreal Tournament is certainly a major long-term priority but we’re planning not to release a major retail game in the series for several years. So we have that effort somewhat on hold while we work on a few other initiatives. “
For anyone who plays Unreal Tournament, the community is what has truly defined the game ever since Epic released their first moddable game in 1998. Sweeney even jokes that Unreal Tournament IV and V could be primarily made by the Unreal Tournament Community.
Yes, the fans could make Unreal Tournament IV, but how would Epic advertise its Unreal Engine to developers? -_-
I've been a fan of Epic since the days of Jazz Jackrabbit and I can't help but feel a tad betrayed by Sweeney and co. when I read this news. Epic started as a PC game company and gained fame as a PC company. UT2004 was and still is one of my favorite first-person shooters. It was only when Epic decided to straddle the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 platforms that the Unreal Tournament series suffered to the point where company leaders to shelf the franchise "for several years." And some fans (myself included) feel that Unreal Tournament 3 was less of a consumer-oriented product and more of a technology demo intended to impress potential licensees for the Unreal Engine.
I'll still play UT3 for three reasons:
- It cost money.
- Other ToJ members play it.
- It's still fun (though not as fun as UT2004, IMHO).
It seems every major first-person shooter developer falls out of favor eventually. id Software used to be king of the hill; those days are long over. Valve is pushing fans' patience with the rapid release of Left 4 Dead 2 and a blatant (and uncharacteristic) failure to deliver content promised for Left 4 Dead in interviews with company higher-ups several months ago.
Now Epic is shelving the Unreal Tournament series for the higher-grossing Gears of War. It makes sense from a business perspective, but I can't help but think that it wouldn't have come to this if Epic had just done the job right the first time around with UT3. The Black edition release of the game was a nice effort, but, based on what little I've seen of the UT3 community, it was too little, too late (which is a shame, because I was really hoping for at least a few "must-have" mods for UT3).