3000AD announces trio of new titles, breaks ties with publisher

3000AD today announced three new PC games and left the retail fate of a fourth up in the air when it announced that it had ended a tumultuous relationship with publisher DreamCatcher today.

Business goes on, however. The company will work on developing new products in the form of Universal Combat Gold, Universal Combat Online, and Battlecruiser Next Gen (working title).

Universal Combat Gold contains the full original game along with several enhancements, updates, and new features, and it should be available in July for $19.99.

Universal Combat Online is a massively multiplayer online installment of the series, built on an upgraded version of the engine from Universal Combat - A World Apart. 3000AD has named September as a target release date for this one.

Finally, Battlecruiser Next Gen promises a completely seamless first-person space and planetary environment and should be out in November.

The severing of ties with DreamCatcher comes as little surprise considering that acrimony between the publisher and 3000AD founder Derek Smart in late 2003 led to an ugly and public dispute over the budget pricing of the original Universal Combat.

The breakup puts the boxed retail release of Universal Combat – A World Apart in question, as the developer is now shopping around the game's rights to publishers. However, a news post on the 3000AD Web site said that plans to make the game available for direct download would be unaffected by the change. The severance also gives 3000AD the rights to the Battlecruiser and Universal Combat names.