Remember late last year when Epic put the sickle on the company's back catalog and delisted almost all of its Unreal games? At the time, the blow was softened by the news that Unreal Tournament 3 would become Unreal Tournament 3 X.

It was not officially announced by Epic. Fans only found out about it thanks to Steam's UT3 description (which can be seen in this archived version), and there's probably a reason Epic didn't make a big announcement about it.

A recent update to UT3's Steam page, discovered by Wario64 on Twitter, removes all mention of Unreal Tournament 3 X: its name, features, and even the copyright date have been moved back from 2022 to 2007. Instead, the page looks much the same as it did in the middle of last year, before Epic delisted it (as can be seen by comparing the current UT3 Steam page with the archived version).

Many fans have taken this as a quiet cancellation of the UT3X project, and Epic has said nothing to dispel their despair. When I reached out to the company for comment, they simply said, "We have nothing to share on this matter."

In the Unreal Tournament subreddit, players have reacted with resignation and disappointment. Sudden-Anybody-6677 said, "No surprise, it was exactly what I expected," echoing another user abysmalentity's comment that "putting your hopes in Epic" would "only bring misery."

Another user, hypnopt, succinctly summed up people's reactions to the news: "I don't know why we continue to be disappointed with anything related to UT, instead of always assuming the worst and setting our expectations below zero."

Of course, it is important to note that someone editing a Steam page is not traditionally how a company announces the cancellation of a game (on the contrary, it is generally not how they announce the production of a game either). It may be that Epic still has plans for UT3X, even if they leave the standard UT3 page in place. Perhaps this is all a prelude to publishing a new, independent page for UT3X.

Or maybe not. I must admit I'm a cynic, and given that UT3X will never be officially announced and Epic is in no hurry to assure people that the project has not sunk beneath the waves, I wouldn't be surprised if it reappears down the road. Fortnite" is still debilitating the company. With "Fortnite" still making the company enough money to debilitate it, it will be hard to get upper management to care about older titles like "Unreal". They may have to rely on their fans to keep these games alive for the foreseeable future.