Stop Killing Games: How Unreal Tournament 99 Survived

Epic Games delisted Unreal Tournament 99 from all major stores in December 2022. But thanks to the passion and persistence of the community, this legendary FPS didn’t die. It came back stronger.

In this video, we explore how Unreal Tournament 99 was nearly lost forever—and how dedicated fans, patch developers, and server hosts fought to preserve it. From unofficial master servers to free legal downloads, UT99 lives on as a symbol of what communities can achieve.
I want to add that while UT99 remained technically playable, the delisting of the game was seen by many as an attempt to slowly kill it. Without easy access for new players, delisting can shrink the community over time and eventually lead to a game fading away — even if it’s still functional for those who already own it.

Update:
I want to clarify a few important points brought up by members of the community:
Epic didn’t actively try to kill off UT99 or Unreal. While the games were delisted from sale, players have always been able to host their own servers, and community masterservers have been in place for over a decade. Epic has even allowed community patches to continue, and forums like ut99.org and oldunreal.com remain active hubs for the series. So it's more accurate to say that the games have been sustained — and even enhanced — by their dedicated community, rather than killed off.

Also, a big thank-you to 333networks for their long-standing work on masterservers — and equal recognition to other community-led efforts like those by Errorist, OldUnreal, Hypercoop, NewbiesPlayground, and others who have supported UT and Unreal for 15–20 years. Mentioning only OpenSpy in the video was an oversight, and I truly appreciate the incredible work all of you have done to keep these games alive.

A few inaccuracies made it into the video. The date for when the official master servers shut down isn’t correct, and both GameSpy and especially 333networks were already functioning as replacement master servers long before the game was delisted.

Regarding the list of games where the servers are closed, 'only' the console servers are closed in the case of the Final Fantasy and DC Universe.

🎯 This is part of the growing Stop Killing Games movement: a campaign to protect classic games from digital extinction.

🕹️ Play Unreal Tournament 99 Today:
Download the game (free + legal): https://www.oldunreal.com/downloads/u...

Get the latest patch (469e-rc8): https://github.com/OldUnreal/UnrealTo...

Join my community Discord:   / discord  
The server is new, so there isn't much activity yet, but from there you can find more active servers.

If you would like to support me financially or just want to find some cool UT99 related downloads, take a look at my coffee site: https://buymeacoffee.com/ut99

🛑 Learn More About Stop Killing Games:
Official campaign site: https://www.stopkillinggames.com/
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