Quake Champions has been in Early Access since 2017 and Bethesda has decided to take the Arena Shooter free-to-play starting today. Announcing the news appropriately at QuakeCon 2018, the shooter will remain in Early Access and there will still be some monetization with a Champions Packs to purchase.
Quake Champions had previously been free to play, but only if you were willing to play it via Bethesda.net or if you happened to pick it up during one of the promotional periods. Pulling down all barriers to entry, it seems like the only places left for Bethesda to go with Quake Champions is to consoles. Though the slight shift in strategy could bring more people to the arena.
The game remains in Early Access for now
Bethesda says that there is still more to come in the development of Quake Champions. Things to expect going forward are “additional polish, improvements, and new content — like the upcoming Capture the Flag mode.” Bethesda says they’d like to get that mode into the game before they consider the game “fully released.”
The free download of Quake Champions will give you access to the Quickplay, Ranked, and Arcade modes as well as all maps available in Early Access. Players will start out with two free Champions, and then can unlock more by completing the in-game tutorial and earning an in-game currency called Favor. After the tutorial you’ll need to earn Favor to unlock Champions. Though they can also be purchased as separate downloadable content called the Champions Pack. This pack is on sale at the moment for $19.79, but only during QuakeCon 2018. Following the end of the sale they’ll be phasing the price back to $39.99 on September 4th. The Champions Pack features access to all of the currently released characters in the game and will give you access to Champions released in the future. This DLC also grants you the ability to play Custom Matches and gives you cosmetic DLC.
Enter the Death Knight
Alongside the announcement, a new character was revealed, Death Knight. You can check out the Death Knight in action in the trailer for the game embedded above.
