OldUnreal (Engine)

This is just some random thought that I had:

Does anyone know if Unreal 1 will ever be considered abandonware and will be available to anyone without paying for it? (Not that I need it, as I already have two copies of it.)

If this ever happens, I could see Unreal going on for a long time in the future as a popular, 'highly economical', yet fun as heck game to play (especially with all the work and improvements that make it almost on par with games coming out now)

well it really depends on, do the unreal games still have a future? aslong as epic keeps on exploiting the franchise more i can assume the chances of unreal becoming abandonware is very little...

however with the recent "dissapointing sales" with ut3, maybe this could mean epic will put the unreal games to rest from now on, which would mean there is a much bigger chance it will become abandonware as epic moves on to another franchise

even if they discontinue the franchise, people will still want to use the unreal engine.

Unreal is still being sold commercially (As part of Unreal Anthology) so it is not abandonware. (And abandonware does not seem to be an official term anyways; a judge will not grant distribution rights just because something is abandonware)

Epic is no longer selling licenses of UE1, nor supporting it.