There's been some interesting news circulating about Quake Champions. First of all we saw the official gameplay premiere for Quake Champions published late last week, at QuakeCon, and embedded below. Secondly, the game will be PC only, simply down to the required system performance. Thirdly, id Software doesn't yet know whether it will be making Quake Champions a free-to-play title or an up-front retail purchase.
Above you can catch the first official glimpse of Quake Champions gameplay. The video should give you a taste of the "blazing-fast action and explosive rocket jumps you know and love". The game promises a thrilling selection of unique champions to choose from including the revival of some names from the old Quake games. Players are thrust into a fast, skill-based arena-style competition with no limit to the amount of guns they can carry. Furthermore, id Software promise "classic Quake speed," with a game engine "running at 120hz with unlocked framerates".
PC-only full stop
Quake Champions will be a PC only title. This is because "There is not a console that supports our vision for [Quake Champions]," according to Bethesda marketing boss Pete Hines, talking to GameSpot. When the platforms for the upcoming game were up for discussion Hines explained that the development team asserted "No, it's a PC-only thing. It's this kind of game. It's got to have this kind of performance, and it's going to be on PC full stop".
Free-to-play or not?
At QuakeCon id Software head Tim Willits talked to PC Gamer about the amazing success of DOOM. This success has given the developers confidence in their vision for Quake Champions. With success validating their opinions they aim to keep the focus of Quake tight – another reason it is PC only.
On the prickly subject of game monetisation, id Software is as yet undecided on whether Quake Champions should be a free-to-play game or an up-front retail purchase. "I can definitely say that is a really hard problem, and so for us we're trying to figure out exactly what people want more of, and how they perceive it," mulled Willits. "And I'm not even trying to be cagey! It's not like we know and just aren't trying to tell anybody, we don't know and we're still trying to figure this out."
Quake Champions will be going into closed beta in 2017, so it won't be too much longer before you'll be able to get your hands on this "heart-thumping arena-style FPS" and experience it for yourself.
