Initially called Quake Zero, Quake Live will be a successor to Quake 3 that has the potential to bring deathmatch out of the basement and into the mainstream. In an interview with PC Gamer, Carmack talks in detail about the premise of his latest project and his expectations towards it.


Further in the interview, Carmack mentions the ever present discussion of whether or not PC gaming is superior to consoles and takes a dig at Crysis, saying that a game like that is "not necessarily that exciting of a direction for the PC to be going in the future." He mentions World of Warcraft as an example that the PC games have a lot of potential and says that id Software will stay true to the PC platform:


It seems like id have been studying the success of Blizzard games. Carmack plans the introduction of Quake Live's counterpart of the BattleNet match-making system known from StarCraft or Warcraft 3 so that inexperienced players are not discouraged:



Millions of players is an extremely high benchmark to set for a skeptical Quake community, some of which have been around for more than a decade. Quake 3 has had eight years of modded perfection which leaves a lot of catching up to do for id software.

"I'm glad they've realized some of the reasons why people have trouble getting into Quake and staying there," says longtime professional Quake player Magnus "fox" Olsson. "On paper it sounds really good and well thought out. I just hope they don't spare the polish and customizability, which in my opinion, is what makes Quake so great."

As you talk to different people around the community, the mentaily is quite similar to Olsson's views. Users want to see all the features that currently exist in Quake 3, or that have been implemented in newer games by other developers. Mods, a slick user interface, netcode, matchmaking and video recording features are just some of the attributes that are sought out. With Quake 4's ultimately weak release state, the community is weary of id's ability to produce what's necessary.

"After Quake 4 I was sure that I would never look forward to another Quake game, but that's all changed," says SK-Gaming's Karl "fooKi" Johansson, who has been beta testing Quake Live. "There's one week before the major competition at the ESWC Masters, and instead of training in standalone Quake 3, I’m playing FFA on dm17 in Quake Live with a big fat grin on my face. I am shocked over the amount of potential the game has. If id plays their cards right, they’ll have a major success."

Quake Live will be a free platform supported through revenue generated by virtual billboards built into the game. id will be teaming up with in-game advertising company IGA Worldwide for the upcoming title.

Talking to GameDaily in April, IGA's VP of Brand Integration Steve Tucker has hopes for a highly integrated system. "The intention is not to have the launch page with ads in it. [The ads] will be in the arenas and brands might want custom solutions for different items, characters or arenas. We can easily program arenas or scoreboards for different sponsors. We want it to be natural and, at the same time, not disrupt the gaming experience."

No timeline has been given as to the release of Quake Live, but more information should be forthcoming at id's annual QuakeCon event in late July. You can sign up for a beta test of the game at Quake Live's website.