Quake Live Getting "Premium" Service
John Carmack says Quake 3 Arena [http://www.quakelive.com/], is unsustainable in its current format and will be adding a pay-to-use "premium" service model.
Quake Live offers the fast-paced online combat of Quake 3 Arena, including game modes like Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag, but is entirely browser-based. After it entered open beta in February, PC will really stand alone [http://www.idsoftware.com]."
Unfortunately, the game apparently isn't quite as good at generating revenue as it is at letting people shoot each other in the face. Speaking at Quakecon [http://www.quakecon.org/], Carmack assured the audience that the game isn't a failure, nor is it in danger of being closed down, but said it isn't sustainable on ad revenues alone and will therefore require some kind of subcription-based premium service level.
He didn't reveal any specifics about the plan but cheapskates in the crowd need not worry; he also said the game would probably always maintain some form of free service as well.
I played around with Quake Live for several days after the open beta started and found it to be remarkably true to the original Quake 3 Arena. Having a full-blown, "instant on" multiplayer shooter built into a browser is pretty cool and the game looks pretty damn good for being ten years old. But with the good comes the bad: Quake 3 Arena was always kind of half-assed, wasn't it? Still, if you haven't played it yet it's well worth trying, especially while it's still free.
Source: VG247 [http://www.vg247.com/2009/08/14/premium-service-coming-to-quakelive-carmack-confirms/]
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John Carmack says Quake 3 Arena [http://www.quakelive.com/], is unsustainable in its current format and will be adding a pay-to-use "premium" service model.
Quake Live offers the fast-paced online combat of Quake 3 Arena, including game modes like Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag, but is entirely browser-based. After it entered open beta in February, PC will really stand alone [http://www.idsoftware.com]."
Unfortunately, the game apparently isn't quite as good at generating revenue as it is at letting people shoot each other in the face. Speaking at Quakecon [http://www.quakecon.org/], Carmack assured the audience that the game isn't a failure, nor is it in danger of being closed down, but said it isn't sustainable on ad revenues alone and will therefore require some kind of subcription-based premium service level.
He didn't reveal any specifics about the plan but cheapskates in the crowd need not worry; he also said the game would probably always maintain some form of free service as well.
I played around with Quake Live for several days after the open beta started and found it to be remarkably true to the original Quake 3 Arena. Having a full-blown, "instant on" multiplayer shooter built into a browser is pretty cool and the game looks pretty damn good for being ten years old. But with the good comes the bad: Quake 3 Arena was always kind of half-assed, wasn't it? Still, if you haven't played it yet it's well worth trying, especially while it's still free.
Source: VG247 [http://www.vg247.com/2009/08/14/premium-service-coming-to-quakelive-carmack-confirms/]
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