Unreal Tournament (cancelled video game)

Unreal Tournament
Developer(s)Epic Games
Publisher(s)Epic Games
Programmer(s)
SeriesUnreal
EngineUnreal Engine 4
Platform(s)
ReleaseAugust 13, 2014 (pre-alpha)
Genre(s)First-person shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Unreal Tournament was a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games.[3] It is the ninth game in the Unreal franchise, the fifth game in the Unreal Tournament series, and the first entry to be released since 2007's Unreal Tournament 3. The game utilizes Epic's Unreal Engine 4 and was released for free on Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux.[4][5] The game was released as an alpha in 2014, but was never completed due to Epic Games' focus on Fortnite Battle Royale.[6]

Unreal Tournament's development was crowdsourced and open to contribution from anyone[7][8] with Epic Games using forums for discussions and Twitch livestreams for updates.[9] The source code of the game was published on GitHub.[10] Development had ceased by July 2017 when the team transitioned over to Fortnite, though a formal announcement of the end of development was not made until December 2018.[11] The game remained available for free in its June 2017 configuration (version 0.1.12)[12][13] until its servers were shut down on January 24, 2023, rendering the game inaccessible.[14]

  1. ^ Grayson, Nathan (May 16, 2014). "Interview: How Will Unreal Tournament 2014 Work? Can It". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on September 28, 2014. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
  2. ^ Chalk, Andy (August 7, 2014). "Unreal Tournament's CTF mode tweaked for better e-sports presentation". PC Gamer. Future US. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  3. ^ Dyer, Mitch (May 8, 2014). "Epic Games Reveals Free, Crowdsourced Unreal Tournament". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on August 21, 2016. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
  4. ^ Makuch, Eddie (May 8, 2014). "New Unreal Tournament in development, and it'll be absolutely free". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on April 26, 2016. Retrieved September 27, 2014.
  5. ^ Polge, Steve (May 8, 2014). "The Future of Unreal Tournament Begins Today". Unreal Engine. Epic Games. Archived from the original on May 8, 2014. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
  6. ^ Davenport, James (March 22, 2018). "Fortnite Battle Royale was developed in just two months, wasn't originally free-to-play". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on March 22, 2018. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  7. ^ Villapaz, Luke (May 8, 2014). "'Unreal Tournament' 2014 Details: Epic Games To Release 'UT' For Free, Development To Be Open To Input From Developers And Gamers". International Business Times. IBT Media. Archived from the original on December 21, 2014. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  8. ^ Maiberg, Emanuel (May 8, 2014). "New Unreal Tournament game will be free, developed by Epic and UT community". PC Gamer. Future US. Archived from the original on September 15, 2014. Retrieved September 27, 2014.
  9. ^ Mlot, Stephanie (May 9, 2014). "Epic Games Crowdsources Free Unreal Tournament Revival". PC Magazine. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on November 27, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  10. ^ "Getting Started With Unreal Tournament". Unreal Engine. Epic Games. Archived from the original on April 15, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2016.
  11. ^ Sweeney, Tim. "Tim Sweeney talks about UT status on UE twitch stream". www.twitch.tv. Epic Games. Retrieved December 13, 2018.
  12. ^ Makuch, Eddie (December 5, 2018). "Amid Fortnite's Success, New Unreal Tournament Stops Development At Epic Games". GameSpot. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  13. ^ "Release Notes June 28". www.epicgames.com. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
  14. ^ "Epic pulling online services for 20+ titles including Unreal Tournament series". Eurogamer. December 14, 2022. Retrieved December 21, 2022.