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Quake Champions Announced: PC Only, Multiplayer Arena Combat

Aftershocks

Bethesda started big. When the lights and music dropped, the giant screen at the E3 showcase showed a DOS prompt. After fiddling around directories for a moment, the unseen user typed one small word: QUAKE.

The game is Quake Champions, an arena-based shooter pitting "diverse warriors with unique attributes and abilities" against one another. It has been designed for "world class esports play at every level" and contains big Stroggy bastards and a blue-haired lady.

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Aside from the fact it seems like it'll be stepping on DOOM multiplayer's toes a little, the big news here is that Quake Champions will be PC only. No consoles. id are targeting high level performance, with unlocked framerates at 120hz.

It's multiplayer only and Tim Willits, who made the presentation, says id will be expanding beyond QuakeCon with new competitive tournaments and leagues.

id are developing this one in-house. I'd made a bet with myself that if a Quake game were announced it'd be in the hands of Machine Games; they didn't have any announcements but both they and Evil Within creators Tango Softworks were shown briefly during the presentation so are presumably working on something for Bethesda. More Wolfenstein and more Evil Within, I reckon, though perhaps best not to presume given that I've just told you how wrong I was about Quake.

I'm also going to go ahead and admit that when the title first came up I thought it was going to be a Quake-themed MOBA and I nearly bellowed in frustration. As with Prey, we'll learn more at QuakeCon.

You can follow all our E3 2016 news here.

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Adam Smith: Adam wrote for Rock Paper Shotgun between 2011-2018, rising through the ranks to become its Deputy Editor. He now works at Larian Studios on Baldur's Gate 3.
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