Eh Spec Ops; the line last I am aware was delisted from other storefronts aswell..So it was not
kowtowed to political pressure groups there granted other actions they have took has been

edited for missed the word not

That seems wildly off base considering the game had licensed music and was delisted everywhere, but whatever.

I never bought or played the tournament games, though l did purchase Unreal 1/2 long ago. As of now, the only remaining "option" would be to find someone selling a (probably ludicrously expensive) used copy. That or sit back and sing some sea shanties.

-

I think that user was talking about two separate things.

Well, at least
"Unreal",
"Unreal Mission Pack 1",
"Unreal Gold" (which contains the two aforementioned titles) and
"Unreal Tournament 2003" are available (again) as AW.

And if the AW-admins are serious about it, they will re-upload
"Unreal Tournament",
"Unreal Tournament GOTY",
"Unreal II - The Awakening (+ S.E.)" and
"Unreal Tournament 2004" in the forseeable future, given that the games have now been pulled from the first hand market for ~two years, with no signs of an official re-release so far.

Delisted due to the war in the Middle East. 2K/Yaeger didn't want to catch flak about having a game where you can kill civilians in the Middle East so they forced digital retailers to delist the game to help keep it under the radar that such levels existed. Just like how Infinity Ward/Activision caught flak for the "No Russian" level in COD MW2.

No I'm not.
You and I and many others feel that way about them, but as I alluded to, I'm not sure they have the broader consensus of being at the forefront of many minds.

I certainly don't read about them as much as I do read about Quake and Half-Life. In a way, you could say the Unreal series are somewhat taken for granted, and so kind of overlooked a bit ... not by you or me and many others certainly.

Anyway, that's my take, and I might be wrong ... depends on the circles you move in I guess.

P.S. If not for Unreal, I reckon Quake 2 would have been appreciated more than it was, certainly at the time. But that's a different story, and you could say that Half-Life had a similar impact. SiN and Blood 2 certainly fared even worse, with Unreal being truly iconic compared to them. So you won't get any argument from me about how good Unreal etc was.

I think Unreal after a point was known more as a multiplayer shooter once UT was a thing and basically the only thing going for the series. Doesn't help that Unreal's only real single player sequel was mediocre and outsourced to the guys who did the expansion for the first game, has an Xbox only spin-off that came out the same year as Resident Evil 4, a third installment to UT that wasn't as beloved as the previous one, and the last Unreal thing was cancelled.

So I don't really blame anyone for thinking of Unreal as "not well known" when the series never revisited its roots while Half-Life gets prolonged longevity through having a popular modding scene, along with a fan-game-as-official-product remake with Black Mesa and an acclaimed VR game coming out the same year, and Quake having its two remasters along with a revival game that hearkens back to III along with being associated with Doom and Wolfenstein.

Basically, Epic let Unreal wither on the vine for the longest time and officially pulled the plug.

I am so disappointed at GOG for them not being willing to continue to sell this game after its IP-holder told them to stop /s.

Gog can't do anything if the ip holder pulls the game from all digital storefronts and refuses to return it ..now if it was legit still on a digital storefront or the ip-holder willing to relist it then they could easily do something

Notice the /s.

I thought it was a typo as well after you said notice it found out from a search its a online abbreviation I am unfamiliar with using

and I'm disappointed that UT2003 was effectively put on bus after UT2004's release. it isn't in Anthology. it wasn't sold here or on Steam digitally.
also, UC2 being console exclusive til the very end is the dumbest decision ever.

Mentioned here - https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Unreal_Tournament_2003

And they say the following.

Not sold digitally due to Unreal Tournament 2004 containing most 2003 content.

What was the content not included I wonder?
I see two Bonus Packs mentioned. They are listed as free, and I wonder if that is still the case? LOL, should have scrolled further down the page.

https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/145-unreal-tournament-2003-digital-extremes-bonus-pack-ut2mod/

https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/146-unreal-tournament-2003-digital-extremes-bonus-pack-no-ut2mod/

https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/147-unreal-tournament-2003-epic-bonus-pack/

Grabbed all three of those.

There is also something called 'Fusion Map Pack', for Unreal, which seems to be different to the official Mission Pack 1: Return to Na Pali, which came with Unreal Gold.

Just downloaded Unreal Fusion Map Pack from the link provided.
https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/140-unreal-fusion-map-pack/

But wait, there's more .......

Official Bonus Pack #4, The Christmas 2000 Pack

Seems to be some more stuff via the Bonus content section of this page, not part of the Editor's Choice Edition.
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Unreal_Tournament_2004
Scroll down for a bonus pack and some maps.

And Unreal Tournament 3 never did turn up at GOG, like announced ... silently canceled.
But the Titan Pack is available for it for free.

It's not about content, but about differences. Different single player campaign, weapon differences, balancing, movement AI behavior, missing bot name voice overs in 2004, menu, UI and more like the fixed "boost jump" bug from UT 2003 which got fixed in UT 2004. All of which absolutely warrants UT 2003 as a standalone entry. I play both occasionally, so speaking from experience.

It's like saying "No point in selling Doom 1 when Doom 2 exists". Or comparing release Diablo 2 with a fully patched Diablo 2 + LoD. Big differences in a lot of regards.

I have no personal experience to compare to, so must take your word for it.

It does seem rather strange, that they state 'containing most 2003 content.', if the single player campaign is totally different. Because as you say, that alone warrants a separate release, and then add to that the other differences you mention, it is truly weird. But in truth, Epic have behaved weird all round with Unreal in recent times. Maybe they are working up to something big, that creating rarity will enhance.

EDIT
I've just realized I have something at Epic, obtained for free back in August 2019, called Unreal Tournament - A NEW BEGINNING. I presume I can still download and install that.

While I have discs for Unreal and Unreal Tournament, I also have PC GAMES__Quake3 vs Unreal Tournament …Issue 21, which features a lot of extra Unreal stuff. I actually have heaps of Unreal stuff spread over many PC magazine discs.

I of course have all the Unreal games that GOG had.