Epic Games Changes Story, Unsure About UT3 Linux Future

Next month will mark the two-year anniversary of the Unreal Tournament 3 release, but to this day the UT3 Linux client still has not been released. Up to this point we have been told by Ryan Gordon (the one porting over the game and engine to Linux) that it is still being worked on and Epic Games has similarly told us -- just two months ago -- that it is slowly being worked on. We've been told similar statements now going back many months that the Unreal Tournament 3 Linux client was still being worked on, but there was no ETA for when it might be released -- even though Ryan has been porting the game for over two years and originally he was hoping to ship the Linux client on the same-day as the game's release.

Well, today we've been told a different story by Steve Polge, the lead designer for Unreal Tournament 3, who in the past confirmed it still was being worked on and would be released at some point. After Ryan provided no update earlier this week, we asked Steve whether Ryan still was responsible for the port (to combat rumors that this situation is over Epic not paying Ryan) and the status of the Linux client. Here's Steve Polge's response that was received this morning:

It is still on Ryan's plate, but he has many other projects as well. I don't have an estimate for if or when it will be completed.

- Steve

So Ryan is still responsible for this work, but the lead designer for Unreal Tournament 3 has no idea "if or when" it will be completed. This is certainly different from earlier this year when Steve had told us "we certainly would love to see this completed." What though is taking Ryan so long? Many months back when Ryan last shared an update, he said he was to the point of bug-fixing and optimizations. And what are these "other projects" of Ryan's? He hasn't released any major work in recent months nor been very vocal on his blog.

Whatever the case may be, it looks like Epic Games is not expecting Unreal Tournament 3 on Linux to ever see the light of day, at least not in this decade.