No cross-platform UT3 at launch

By Robert Purchese Published 26 September, 2007

But maybe in future, says Rein.

Epic Games chief Mark Rein has said Unreal Tournament 3 will not feature cross-platform play between PC and PS3 at launch.

The news came from an IRC chat with site Beyond Unreal [is it 1996? - Ed].

"There will not be cross-platform play at launch," said Rein, before going to get a can of soda. "This doesn't completely rule out adding this feature at some point in the future."

The reason, according to "MarkRein[Epic]", was that it takes much longer to get a console build up and running because of lengthy certification processes - a problem also experienced by patches.

Synchronising the two, then, would mean constantly holding back PC users so the PS3 could catch up. This wasn't an option Mark Rein and his can of soda liked.

"Our PC fan base is of ultimate importance to us. They are our bread and butter. We can't let them down or compromise their experience in any way to accommodate cross-platform play," insisted Rein.

There you go; the PC is used for something other than spreadsheets. For more detail and any other questions you could possibly have thought of, head over to the Beyond Unreal IRC chat.

Unreal Tournament 3 will be released on PC and PS3 in November, followed by a 360 version at a later date.

Head over to our Unreal Tournament 3 gamepage for all out coverage to date.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (27) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • wayn3h #1 4 years ago

    Oh my god. A developer putting PC gamers first in a multiplatform release.

    I am truly gobsmacked.

  • orakio #2 4 years ago

    Long live the PC!

  • AcidSnake #3 4 years ago

    Pics of the can of soda please...

  • Saladin #4 4 years ago

    I'd be interested to hear more of what that soda had to say.

    The can had a point!

  • spliffhead #5 4 years ago

    I can't wait for this but it's called Unreal 3 because only 3 people on earth have a pc massive enough to run it at full speed!

  • urban #6 4 years ago

    i was expecting this tbh. no news.

  • jonsaan #7 4 years ago

    I still play Tournament because it will run on anything around these parts.

  • dfunked #8 4 years ago

    Aww... I was really looking forward to dominating PS3 players...
    Imaging how badly they'd do in an instagib match against someone using mouse & keyboard
    Edited by 1 at 26/09/07 @ 16:17

  • jiveguy #9 4 years ago

    Sounds like it might never happen. If they are regularly updating the PC version once it's out, the PS3 could end up always being a step behind.

  • Garulon #10 4 years ago

    Ahhh!

    A day without bad news for Playstation 3 is like a day without sunshine.

  • mcwildcard #11 4 years ago

    @dfunked: The PS3 version will support mouse and keyboard, so that particular dream of domination may never come to fruition!

  • mcwildcard #12 4 years ago

    @Garulon: ...and a day without an XBox gloater, is like a day without cancer.

  • stephen #13 4 years ago

    WANT.

  • styrvolt #14 4 years ago

    Yeah right. Their "Bread and butter" is consoles. Much lower piracy. Higher prices. Dedicated platform partners and brand owners. And as console engine Dev environments evolve, easier development towards a homogeneous environment.

    The last 5 years of game revenue statistics shows a clear trend. Consoles revenues are going up. PC revenues are going down - with the occasional trend-defying sales spike due to warcraft or some similar online (non-pirateable) game.

    PC games as we know it is doomed. Do0omed I say :) Regardless that every 20 year old male geek ( with the newest graphic card ), insist that this is not so :o)

  • smoison #15 4 years ago

    'styrvolt' said
    "Yeah right. Their "Bread and butter" is consoles. Much lower piracy. Higher prices. Dedicated platform partners and brand owners. And as console engine Dev environments evolve, easier development towards a homogeneous environment."


    I call BULLSHIT. I believe the developer more then a forum geek.


    PC's are only getting more and more popular.
    Edited by 1 at 26/09/07 @ 17:40

  • skillian #16 4 years ago

    "Their "Bread and butter" is consoles.

    It's really not.

    Apart from the fact the company founder is quoted above you as saying exactly the opposite, a single console game (plus a couple of ports) in their entire history doesn't constitute bread and butter.

  • UncleLou #17 4 years ago

    Nonsense, the PC market is growing as well, just not as fast. And that with all statistics not even taking digital distribution into account.

    Wasn't true in the early 90ies when I first heard it, isn't true now. Puberescent console nerds with inferiority complexes think the PC is dead everytime they buy a shiny new console. :p Wishful thinking.
    Edited by 1 at 26/09/07 @ 23:04

  • Ryze #18 4 years ago

    The can of soda went: 'pssssst....[inaudible]'

    I reckon it was quietly prompting Rein.


    /doesn't quit day job

  • Vandrius #19 4 years ago

    Don't know why there is such a facination with cross-platform. To me it really isn't a huge deal - at least until the console version plays and has access to the exact same mods and such as the PC version.

    P.S. To the "PC is doomed" comment... Go tell that to the just-under 10 million people playing WoW.

    No MMO has succeeded on console yet... and WoW has more subscribers by far than xbox live (xbox live is like, what, 7m or so? Less?) And thats just one.

    WoW + GW + EQ + Lineage2 + LoTRO = So many more PC gamers than people with a 360, its just crazy - and thats just MMOs.

  • Rirekon #20 4 years ago

    It's amusing how hyped people are about the possibility about playing an FPS between PS3 and PC given how much ridicule MS got for pushing this for the 360

  • UncleLou #21 4 years ago

    Um, who exactly is hyped? Ah, two people said they're interested. Man, what hype. :p

  • styrvolt #22 4 years ago

    >'styrvolt said: "Their "Bread and butter" is consoles. "
    >Skillian said: "It's really not." [..]

    It really is. And they know it.

    On

    http://ww w.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/n...

    Mark Rein is quoted to say: "Consoles will pretty much define what the next five years of games look like on the PC... We're just now at the point where it's viable to ship games on these next-gen consoles and it's GOING TO BE A GOLD MINE FOR A COUPLE OF YEARS..."

    On

    [link url=http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=15831 ]http://fo rum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread....[/link]

    you get:

    US Console & Handheld Game Software Sales
    1998 - $3.7 billion
    1999 - $4.2 billion
    2000 - $4.1 billion (130.6 million units)
    2001 - $4.6 billion (141.5 million units)
    2002 - $5.5 billion (162.8 million units)
    2003 - $5.8 billion (186.4 million units)
    2004 - $6.2 billion (203 million units)
    2005 - $6.1 billion (190.5 million units)
    2006 - $6.5 billion

    US PC Game Software Sales
    1998 - $1.8 billion
    1999 - $1.9 billion
    2000 - $1.78 billion (84.9 million units)
    2001 - $1.75 billion (83.6 million units)
    2002 - $1.4 billion (61.5 million units)
    2003 - $1.2 billion (52.8 million units)
    2004 - $1.1 billion (47 million units)
    2005 - $953 million (38 million units)
    2006 - $970 million

    On

    [link url=http://www.jupiterresearch.com/bin/item .pl/research:concept/111/id=99627/
    ]http://ww w.jupiterresearch.com/bin/item....[/link]

    you get

    "The PC has long been an important game platform, and the primary locus of innovation and testing for new product strategies. The PC has, however, become the platform of last resort as dedicated system suppliers have successfully attracted customers with a high willingness to pay for games. "

    and so the story goes.

    Live with it :o)

  • styrvolt #23 4 years ago

    Vandrius said:
    "P.S. To the "PC is doomed" comment... Go tell that to the just-under 10 million people playing WoW. "

    As I said : "with the occasional trend-defying sales spike due to warcraft or some similar online (non-pirateable) game. ".

    Oh, and Sims2 also attract PC gamers. Especially female gamers. For some reason you cannot get the ordinary Sims2 game on a non-pc platform. Yet.

    Vandrius said:" No MMO has succeeded on console yet... and WoW has more subscribers by far than xbox live (xbox live is like, what, 7m or so? Less?) And thats just one. "

    :) It's really just another bastion waiting to be conquered by consoles. Just like FPS and RPG's used to be PC domain. Since there are no technical problems in doing MMO on consoles this is another success story waiting to happen. It only represents an opportunity for consoles to bolster their success.
    Edited by 2 at 27/09/07 @ 10:35

  • UncleLou #24 4 years ago

    In your very, very humble opinion, of course, backed by selective quoting and useless statistics. nyway, believe what you want, and be happy with second best. :)

  • styrvolt #25 4 years ago

    UncleLou:" In your very, very humble opinion, of course, backed by selective quoting and useless statistics. nyway, believe what you want, and be happy with second best. :) "

    I think that if you mine the data, check the references of those dabbling in this segment, look at what publishers predict, notice towards what future segment most developers are focused on and optimizing their engines for, pay attention to what segment has the biggets marketing budget, observe who get's the largest sales revenues where, etc. - and you still choose to make this a simple matter of my subjective oppinion, then perhaps you should be happy with being second best :o)

  • UncleLou #26 4 years ago

    You're confusing two things. I'll let you work it out yourself . :)

  • styrvolt #27 4 years ago

    UncleLou: "I'll let you work it out yourself . :) "

    Ditto!

    Thanks for the "mini-debate" ;-)