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Epic Games Isn't Making Anything Unreal-Related Right Now

The studio hasn't forgotten its roots, but legacy isn't the focus.

Remember when this screen shot was THE GREATEST THING OF ALL TIME?
Remember when this screen shot was THE GREATEST THING OF ALL TIME?

After the so-so response to Unreal Tournament 3 (revisiting Facing Worlds was nice!), it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Epic Games isn't in a hurry to return to the Unreal universe, but CEO Mike Capps made that clear in an interview with Forbes today.

"Unreal and Unreal Tournament continue to have a huge influence on the studio here, even though we’re not currently working on an Unreal IP project," said Capps.

It's been more than a decade since the first Unreal game hit the market on May 22, 1998. You think J.J. Abrams has a tendency to overuse lens flare? You never played Unreal, then. That was back when Epic Games was actually called Epic MegaGames and Cliff Bleszinski was quickly working his way up the design ranks at the company. He was actually co-lead on Unreal, as well as a level designer.

Unreal II: The Awakening wasn't released until 2003 and was not a direct continuation of the original game. Heck, it wasn't developed by Epic, with Bleszinski and company acting as project producers.

By then, Unreal had spun off into Unreal Tournament in 2000, which continues to define the series. Unreal Tournament 3 had trouble finding an audience on both PC and consoles, but it was notable for allowing mod makers to export their PC creations easily to the PlayStation 3 audience. Microsoft didn't allow that feature on the Xbox 360 version, which arrived months later.

Patrick Klepek on Google+

76 Comments

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richied0

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Edited By richied0

I wouldn't say no to a UT or 04 port to live arcade. Could be a laugh. Unlikely though.

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TheMartino

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Edited By TheMartino

So what are they working on?

My guess is Bulletstorm 2, Infinity Blade Kinect, or Jazz Jackrabbit HD.

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Cretaceous_Bob

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Edited By Cretaceous_Bob

UT3 was kind of appalling in that as soon as you start the game everybody looks like fucking Gears characters and they completely throw out the campy stupid tournament/killing as a sport thing. You know, the two things that stylistically differentiated that series from Gears.

I like Gears well enough (Gears 1 was one of my favourite multiplayer games of all time) but do not fucking pollute the legacy of Unreal Tournament by putting your gold-plated Gears dick into a box and calling it UT, Epic. Now everybody thinks UT is shit. That's not right.

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Enigma777

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Edited By Enigma777

@TheMartino said:

So what are they working on? My guess is Bulletstorm 2, Infinity Blade Kinect, or Jazz Jackrabbit HD.

Don't forget about the Samaritan.

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mnzy

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Edited By mnzy

I was so hoping for Unreal 3 with some nice little multiplayer, it could be amazing.
 
UT3s problem was that it just wasn't that good and on the PC, it was an Alpha. They released patch after patch with pagelong change lists after it came out. They gave it different menus and everything. The backruptcy of Midway had alot to do with that.
I remember having to type in my CD-key every time I started the game.
 
Don't need a new UT, though. UT2004 is still awesome, people still play it and that's all I need. It would have to be made for consoles anyway and I don't see neither them pulling it off nor me liking it.

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TigerClaw

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Edited By TigerClaw

I'm all for a new Unreal game, As long as they do it as a direct sequel to the first game. And I also would like to see them make another Unreal Tournament, I never had problems with UT3. But these games will need to be made for PCs in mind, Its better to stick to those roots.

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FesteringNeon

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Edited By FesteringNeon

It's unfortunate people didn't get behind this game more. Free mods / maps.. mouse and keyboard support on PS3 etc.. While it may not be the greatest shooter story wise.. It at least attemped to give console users a way to say "I will not buy your DLC", and give me mouse and keyboard support please.

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BlatantNinja23

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Edited By BlatantNinja23

id love to see a UT 4 or UT (what year in the future)

I actually liked UT 3, but there's no consistent group of people playing it anymore

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Getz

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Edited By Getz

I wasnt even aware there was an unreal 3

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DystopiaX

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Edited By DystopiaX

@TheMartino said:

So what are they working on? My guess is Bulletstorm 2, Infinity Blade Kinect, or Jazz Jackrabbit HD.

bulletstorm was made by people can fly, it was just published by Epic.

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xhunterpaul

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Edited By xhunterpaul

Patrick are you even old enough to remember games from 1998-2002?

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mnzy

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Edited By mnzy
@xhunterpaul said:

Patrick are you even old enough to remember games from 1998-2002?

He was born in 1997, so he could have played them, xhunterpaul.
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Twisted_Scot

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Edited By Twisted_Scot

If their not doing anything Unreal, does that mean that their keeping it real?

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MeatSim

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Edited By MeatSim

I wouldn't mind them developing a new IP.

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xhunterpaul

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Edited By xhunterpaul

@mnzy: WOW 1997 really? Norman Chan told me to never trust anyone born after 1990.

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Mentalnova

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Edited By Mentalnova

Next UT game should be an arcade game only, make it pretty like Gears of War 3 and it'll sell.

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monetarydread

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Edited By monetarydread

@the_r0n1n_named_47 said:

UNREAL is one game i think epic SHOULD remake, with of course the inevitable console port, graphics boost, etc. i seriously can't be the only one that thinks this??? maybe i am i dont know

Nope. I would love to see a remake of unreal, although I believe it would be better remade into a more open world scenario. Not quite Oblivion style open world, but somewhere between the wide path of Gears 3 / OG Unreal with the smaller scale open world of Deus Ex: HR. Throw in a heavy emphasis on exploration and you would have a shooter I would definitely pre-order.

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mnzy

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Edited By mnzy
@xhunterpaul said:

@mnzy: WOW 1997 really? Norman Chan told me to never trust anyone born after 1990.

Yea, he just turned 14. Ryan drives by his school to bring him to the office.
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xhunterpaul

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Edited By xhunterpaul

@mnzy: haha funny

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magusat999

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Edited By magusat999

Too bad Epic didn't learn anything after Unreal II, heck - even Unreal 1 should have told them something, and that something is that the SP version, or at least a SP mode of Unreal was most desirable. I always wondered, after the fantastic Unreal II: The Awakening, why the next choice was to destroy the SP mode completely, and now I know! Here I was, waiting and thinking there was going to be another chapter in the story, and sadly there will not be. I thought Unreal II trumped all of the other major shooters of it's day, weapon systems, progression, pacing, controls were amazingly fluid - and the engine was light as well as highly scalable to a wide swath of system specs. I hate it when developers make a piece of crap and then scrap the whole series, as if it's the concept of the game at fault, or nobody wants it. I WANT more Unreal games - just not anything like Unreal 3. Go back to story mode and we are good to go. Hire whoever developed Unreal II, and let them have at it - the days of trying to cash cow multi-players are over, even multiplay fanatics are too sophisticated than to get suckered in like a few years ago. But if Epic is too yellow-bellied and hard headed to admit it screwed up, and get back in the ring with a known working strategy, all that is neither here nor there...

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EXCellR8

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Edited By EXCellR8

i think UT3 is a pretty good game and i'm surprised at how low it's popularity is; i still play it every now and again...

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mnzy

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Edited By mnzy

@magusat999: What the? Unreal 2 was crap, it's the worst in the whole franchise, by far. I thought that was generally agreed upon.

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71Ranchero

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Edited By 71Ranchero

@EXCellR8 said:

i think UT3 is a pretty good game and i'm surprised at how low it's popularity is; i still play it every now and again...

I agree. UT3 is a good game and is under appreciated. The modding community never took off for UT3 because the bar of entry was much higher then that of 2k3/2k4. I would guess that most of the modders with the skill to mod UT3 well were all hired by Epic or had gotten a job in the industry by the time it came out.

UT3 is 20 freaking bucks on Steam. Everyone that wants UT to come back should buy it and show there support for a great series that was left behind when realism became more important then fun.

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magusat999

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Edited By magusat999

@mnzy: I don't know who "generally agreed upon" Unreal II: The Awakening STORY MODE being crap. I think you are saying that because you are probably more interested in multiplayer games, which is not what I am speaking of. i played UTII through completely, and had no problems with it. it didn't require me to purchase a new computer. It had a wide variety of enemies - all different, no re-coloring of the same enemies and calling it a different monster. It had a lot of different locations. The gameplay was very fluid and there was a reason and use for each type of weapon. By contrast other games that came out during that time, Doom III - which was a soap opera disguised as a video game, and Quake IV - which was greatly and underachievement of what the Quake series should have been were nothing but disappointing. I know and have read about the failure of Unreal III - but Unreal II I didn't hear all of this "general agreement" your referring to - unless your talking multiplayer, which I could really care less about.

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mnzy

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Edited By mnzy

@magusat999: I don't know man, on metacritic it has the lowest score of all Unreal titles and I remember it being a drag of endless "go to this planet, ok, now go to this planet" with breaks of looking at the girls ass on the ship. The whole setting was pretty much removed from the franchise, I believe there wasn't even a shock rifle to combo with.

If your whole requirement is for a new Unreal to be a mediocre single player FPS, there are other people out there than Epic. And some of those other people made Unreal II.

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luke11685

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Well since 2011 they started developing Fortnite and they still keep updating Battle Royale game mode.