Epic says that it’s making this change because it’s going to be focusing on support for Epic Online Services with its unified friends system. All of the games losing online play don’t use this system. And Epic finds it easier to simply shut the services down for these games than support different systems. And that makes sense. This shift means less work and it can start to have one system for all its titles. Epic won’t be shutting off online services until January 24. So there’s still time to enjoy the online services until then. However, Epic has already started delisting some games from storefronts and in-game DLC purchases can no longer be made as of today.
Most games, Epic says, will still be playable offline after online shuts down
Although online play and services is shutting down for these titles, Epic says that most of them will still be playable offline. So you can play solo or with local co-op if the game supports it. Rock Band for instance, will still be playable offline and it does support local co-op. Which means you can still jam out with your friends if you still play the game. They just have to be in the same room as you now. The full list of games losing online play are as follows. 1000 Tiny Claws, Dance Central 1-3, Green Day: Rock Band, 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. Epic says it’s also shutting down Battle Breakers on December 30. Some players will no doubt be disappointed by these changes Epic is making but, nothing lasts forever. And Epic is moving on.