New 'Unreal Tournament' will be completely free, development begins today

[Shawn Knight]

As promised, Epic Games on Thursday revealed plans for the next installment in the Unreal Tournament franchise and to say the news caught everyone off guard would be an understatement.

As revealed during the live Twitch stream and reiterated in a blog post, work on the new game begins today. The developer is taking a unique approach in making the game completely free (not free-to-play with microtransactions) and it will be built from the ground up using Unreal Engine 4 as a collaborative effort that includes a small team of UT veterans, Unreal Engine 4 developers and fans of the franchise.

Development will focus on Windows, Mac and Linux with all code and content available to Unreal Engine 4 developers via GitHub. The title will stay true to its roots as a competitive first-person shooter, Epic said, and they’re even planning to include virtual reality initiatives for the Oculus Rift.

So, what’s the catch?

Epic was quick to point out that it’ll take many months until the game reaches a playable state as they truly are starting from scratch. As previously stated, the game will be free although Epic plans to eventually create a marketplace where developers, modders, artists and gamers can give away, buy and sell mods and content. Earnings from the marketplace will be split between the content creator and Epic which is how they will fund the title.

Those interested in participating are encouraged to sign up for a free account to join the Unreal Engine 4 community.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/56694-new-unreal-tournament-will-be-completely-free-development-begins-today.html

 

[psycros]

Their out of their skulls if they believe mods will sell the same way as apps. You *might* see people willing to pay for some high quality vanity items, but to make that work the game will have to distribute that content to everyone who joins the same game as those who've bought that particular content. The overwhelming majority of mods are not of sufficient quality to even consider paying for. Clearly they'll have to charge for onlline play, ala "season pass" or the like..if their not already planning to do so.

 

[VitalyT]

Is it done yet?

 

[TheBigFatClown]

"And in an unusual turn of events, after key developers of the new free Unreal Tournament franchise stumbled upon a comment posted by 'psycros' on TechSpot.com they have re-evaluated their decision to offer a triple AAA title for free based upon the fragile hopes of making a profit for selling additional content. The project has been terminated immediately and scrapped leaving fans to look forward to nothing more than the regurgitation of the C.O.D. series. So a warm heartfelt thanks goes out to 'psycros' for his influence in this matter. And for ruining and crushing the dream of a multitude of hopeful gamers. Thank you 'psycros'."

 

[VitalyT]

Damn,...I was in the middle of pulling a penny out...

 

[Jad Chaar]

I loved Unreal Tournament and I will love the new one 10x more I bet! Linux and Mac support is just great. It shows they care.

 

[Forg0t2]

I loved Unreal Tournament and I will love the new one 10x more I bet! Linux and Mac support is just great. It shows they care.

No it shows that they need all computer OS's to increase their marketing strategy. If it would be just for windows less people would actually build/sell/buy mods... By releasing it on as many Os's as possible it'll increase the potential of mods thus the potential income.

 

[Darth Shiv]

Interesting concept. Looking forward to seeing how it goes. Love the good old UT series!

 

[Red87]

Their out of their skulls if they believe mods will sell the same way as apps. You *might* see people willing to pay for some high quality vanity items, but to make that work the game will have to distribute that content to everyone who joins the same game as those who've bought that particular content. The overwhelming majority of mods are not of sufficient quality to even consider paying for. Clearly they'll have to charge for onlline play, ala "season pass" or the like..if their not already planning to do so.

I don't see mods selling well unless it's of extreme quality, but SOE's Player Studio in Planetside 2 has already proved that people will throw money at content creators for designing good items to play dress-up with your characters. While actually getting your content in game has to be approved by the art director and can be difficult, helmets in PS2 go for 10$ USD a pop and the content creator gets a significant cut of every sale (70%, if I remember). There are tons of people running around with these player-made gear and camo.

 

[Guest]

In game adverts would be fun. Like having a coke video running on a wall. I might patent that one, and sell the space to the coke people.

 

[RenGood08]

I'm kind of looking forward to this. I loved playing Unreal Tournament. I hope this pans out for the best. =)

 

[Guest]

It better be free 'cause anything came after UT2K4 pretty garbage.

 

[Guest]

Mods were just an example. Surely this game will not survive on mods.

But consider this:

I'm the kind of gamer who practically never buys DLC. If I spend $60+ for a single game you can safely bet that will probably be it. I don't believe in spending $100 for ONE FULL GAME.
Many people don't even buy new games when they first come out because even $60 is quite a bit for a video game.

But what if someone made a game that itself was free but offered DLC to make the profits from? Now all of the sudden they have a wider market to tap into. You get your free game. You pay only for the DLC you want and are willing to pay for. Now the person that only has $5, $10, $20 to dish out on video games can do so for a free game. This can open the market up to MORE gamers even if it is less money per individual. As long as the game itself is good it can work.
Think of it like L4D2 with more DLC and no initial cost. I would have bought quite a bit more of DLC for l4d2 if the game itself had been free.

 

[Guest]

UT has enough fanbase to make this next game huge if they do this right. It might even bring down the cost of games for future releases.