Some online services in older games within Epic Games will be discontinued starting today. The game company announced the news earlier on Twitter, stating that while most titles will be playable offline, some will be fully discontinued.
Titles that will have online services completely disabled by January 24 but remain playable offline include: 1000 Tiny Claws, Dance Central 1-3, Green Day: Rock Band, Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess, Rock Band 1-3, The Beatles: Rock Band, Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, Unreal Gold, Unreal II: The Awakening, Unreal Tournament 2003, Unreal Tournament 2004, Unreal Tournament 3 and Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition. Some games like Unreal Tournament 3 will have online features back sometime in the future.
Epic also stated that games will be removed from all digital storefronts including DLC purchasing, however players who have already purchased will still be able to play. The Mac We and Linux versions of Hatoful Boyfriend and Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star will be removed as well as the mobile game DropMix.
Battle Breakers, Unreal Tournament (Alpha), Rock Band Blitz, Rock Band Companion app and SingSpace will all be completely shut down with the first on December 30 and the latter four on January 24. Refunds for in-game purchases will be automatically made by Epic direct payment 180 days prior.
This seems to be an ever growing trend since games began their switch to digital marketplaces. In September Ubisoft withheld access to one of their older Assassin’s Creed remakes, where even players who bought the game weren’t even able to play. Epic’s recent decision has only thrown more heat into the fire of game preservation discourse, especially towards older titles.