Home Gaming Quake Champions is a classic arena shooter, not a MOBA

Quake Champions is a classic arena shooter, not a MOBA

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Last week at E3 Bethesda announced Quake Champions, a rebirth of one of the older FPS titles in gaming. The launch trailer left an uneasy taste in the mouths of true Quake fans as it included elements we’ve become custom in recent MOBA titles. The name “Champions” also left most fans wondering whether the new game would feature characters with attributes and abilities, not stay true to Quake’s nature. We can all rest easy now as German gaming channel Rocket Beans TV held an interview with ID Software’s Tim Wilits where he explained their direction, and explicitly stated that Quake Champions is not a MOBA.

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The announcement was followed with a talk by Bethesda about the direction of Quake Champions and an extremely important statement was made. Quake Champions will be developed as a competitive eSport and this is an important consideration when looking at the history of Quake as the eSport that started it all.

Here are some key notes taken from the video for those who do not have 7 minutes to spare.

  • It’s NOT a MOBA.
  • Quake Champions will be a classic style competitive arena shooter, as it always has been. The addition of “champions” is a natural progression in this day and age of gaming since it does not change the game, but gives a direction to what players want to do.
  • Quake Champions will be unlike Overwatch, Blizzard’s sucessful arena style shooter, which was an important comparison when considering the timeline of the launch. Quake Champions will be the age-old violent, gritty shooter with high speed gameplay that all fans know and love.
  • Quake, in its essence, and Quake Live has been running for almost 16 years. Bethesda plans to bring old Quake fans and new over to Quake Champions by keep a lot of the factors which made the game great in the first place. Shoutcasting, supported tournaments, and more, but with a modern twist. Although the game will have a much more modern feel, the movement will still stay true. Rocket jumping, strafing, fast gameplay, and movement will still feel like the original Quake with the added benefits of an upgraded game.
  • The announcement of Quake Champions comes after a successful resurrection of the DOOM franchise. According to Tim Willits, this make the announcement of Quake Champions a whole lot easier riding on the success of DOOM.
  • Quake will be a PC exclusive game with no plans for console ports. The aim for a PC exclusive directly speaks to the driven focus on eSports. Tim Willits stated that Bethesda want no limitation when considering the performance of DOOM (something, something, PC Master Race).
  • Quake Champions will have open ended FPS, with no limit, since speed is of such importance in Quake. Developments target is 120Hz unlocked framerate. This is important when considering how important each millisecond is at the highest level of gameplay.
  • Game modes will include deathmatch, team deathmatch and all the modes players remember from the original Quake. The modes will undergo development, however, to make the game the perfect eSport with all guns and items being available for pick up.
  • Bethesda stated, and this important, that they are listening to the fans.
  • There will be a closed beta testing phase with no dates announced at the moment.

With this information it’s clear that Quake Champions will be a revolution in the series with both Bethesda and ID Software making sure they stay true to the core fans of the series. Unfortunately nothing was mentioned on the abilities seen in the trailer, but these could be new items available for pickup in the game, or character specific attributes.

 

Last Updated: June 20, 2016

75 Comments

  1. UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy

    June 20, 2016 at 14:31

    But it is a MOBA

    Reply

    • Kikmi

      June 20, 2016 at 14:37

      lel

      Reply

      • UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy

        June 20, 2016 at 14:38

        It was just so tempting to say

        Reply

        • Pariah

          June 20, 2016 at 14:39

          Also technically not wrong. 😛

          Reply

  2. VampyreSquirrel

    June 20, 2016 at 14:33

    Then why are you covering it Kyle? 😛

    Reply

    • Pariah

      June 20, 2016 at 14:36

      eSports

      Reply

      • VampyreSquirrel

        June 20, 2016 at 14:43

        “eSports” as it’s not out yet 😛

        Reply

  3. Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

    June 20, 2016 at 14:34

    LOL SEVEN MINUTES!

    Reply

  4. Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

    June 20, 2016 at 14:35

    PC EXCLUSIVE!

    Reply

    • Darren Peach

      June 20, 2016 at 14:36

      Yep. This sucks. May have to get back into COD until Titanfall drops.

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

        June 20, 2016 at 14:36

        Lol Titan Drop, nice

        Reply

    • Ottokie

      June 20, 2016 at 14:37

      Well you can’t have esports that need skill with “auto aim”

      *runs

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

        June 20, 2016 at 14:37

        Don’t run! STRAFEJUMP!

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

          June 20, 2016 at 14:37

          They’re gaining!
          *Rocket jumps

          Reply

        • Ottokie

          June 20, 2016 at 14:38

          Strafejumping so good, people say I am floating

          Reply

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            June 20, 2016 at 14:38

            “There goes that floater”? 😀

          • Ottokie

            June 20, 2016 at 14:38

            xD

          • Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

            June 20, 2016 at 14:46

            Float like a butterfly, STING LIKE A ROCKET

          • Pariah

            June 20, 2016 at 14:46

            Justice Rains from a strafejump!

          • HvR

            June 20, 2016 at 14:50

            *HVR falls off platform to get -50 score

      • Darren Peach

        June 20, 2016 at 14:39

        Funny story. After migrating to consoles permanently, I got Fear 3 for PC. A friend gave it to me. I played it and actually got a touch dizzy when using the good ol mouse.

        Reply

    • Treezle

      June 21, 2016 at 11:46

      I’m sure all the pc fans cannot wait to pirate buy this one.

      Reply

  5. Alien Emperor Trevor

    June 20, 2016 at 14:35

    You know what mode I remember most from the original Quake? SP.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

      June 20, 2016 at 14:36

      Q2DM1 saw plenty love from me, Q2 SP as well, however

      Reply

    • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

      June 20, 2016 at 14:37

      YES!

      Reply

    • Spenfen

      June 21, 2016 at 05:20

      Honestly though Quake 3 Arena and Quake Live were by far the most successful games, so I can see why they’re going MP-only again.

      Reply

  6. Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

    June 20, 2016 at 14:36

    STRAFEJUMP, STRAFEJUMP, ROCKETJUMP, ROCKETSHOT, RAILSHOT, WIN

    Reply

  7. Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

    June 20, 2016 at 14:36

    It’s not a Moba, it’s Tim Burton’s Overwatch

    Reply

    • Pariah

      June 20, 2016 at 14:37

      I’d play that.

      Reply

  8. Raptor Rants

    June 20, 2016 at 14:44

    Well technically it IS a MOBA
    Massive
    Online
    Battle
    Arena

    It’s the flavour that changes.
    RPG MOBA
    Top Down RPG MOBA
    FPS MOBA (this can be with our without RPG Elements and is where Quake will be. Even Quake 3 Arena technically falls in this catagory)

    Reply

    • Pariah

      June 20, 2016 at 14:45

      *Multiplayer Online Battle Arena

      But yes. You’re correct. 😀

      Although the Arena Shooter arguably existed as a category before the MOBA did, so idk which way to go. But both are technically correct.

      Reply

      • Raptor Rants

        June 20, 2016 at 14:50

        thanks for correction. But yeah. It’s a confined space in which you battle.

        Quake 3 was called Quack 3 Arena.

        Arena? Like… a Battle Arena?
        With others? You mean like multiplayer?
        So A Multiplayer Battle Arena?

        It had online capabilities? So A Multiplayer Online Battle Arena?

        MIND BLOWN

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

          June 20, 2016 at 14:52

          Quack lol

          Reply

          • Raptor Rants

            June 20, 2016 at 14:56

            Ok ok. I saw my mistake. You may stop lolling. Also I will not fix it. Best typo ever

          • Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

            June 20, 2016 at 14:56

            Please don’t, the Quack Arena needs to happen

          • Raptor Rants

            June 20, 2016 at 14:58

            hehehehehehehhe

          • Spenfen

            June 21, 2016 at 05:21

            One of my friends refers to Quake Live as “Quack Pre-Recorded”. I shit you not.

        • HvR

          June 20, 2016 at 14:52

          So Q3Arena was MOBA before MOBA was cool.

          You just broke a whole generation of gamers.

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

            June 20, 2016 at 14:52

            HAHAHAHAHAHA

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            June 20, 2016 at 14:53

            No wonder I never liked Q3A.

          • Pariah

            June 20, 2016 at 14:53

            Lies. You just didn’t have friends to play it with.

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            June 20, 2016 at 14:54

            Yes I did, BOTS.

          • Pariah

            June 20, 2016 at 14:54

            BOTS! Ah, our friends before always online was forced on us.

          • HvR

            June 20, 2016 at 14:54

            I just never liked it because I sucked at it.

            At LAN my one friend’s mission was to get my score at -50 because winning 0-100 was too easy.

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            June 20, 2016 at 14:55

            lol. I enjoyed Q1 & 2 MP, but UT was way better than Q3A.

          • HvR

            June 20, 2016 at 14:56

            Also liked UT more, might have been the the positive score skewed my opinion

          • Treezle

            June 21, 2016 at 11:48

            Ah yes UT brought my first headshots, and the heads acutally falling off.. MMMMMM-ONSTER KILL

          • Raptor Rants

            June 20, 2016 at 14:55

            Indeed I did.

        • Pariah

          June 20, 2016 at 14:52

          Well yes. Not mind blown, but yes.

          As I said though, the argument exists that the Arena Shooter existed before MOBA was a thing. So while this fits perfectly in the MOBA category, it can still be argued that it retains its Arena Shooter status.

          Reply

          • Pariah

            June 20, 2016 at 14:53

            Also redundancy check.

          • HvR

            June 20, 2016 at 15:01

            Why isn’t it a bi-curious arena shooter?

        • Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

          June 20, 2016 at 14:54

          • Raptor Rants

            June 20, 2016 at 14:54

            loooooooooooooooool

          • Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

            June 20, 2016 at 14:55

            Typo from you made me google something totally lolzworthy

          • Raptor Rants

            June 20, 2016 at 14:56

            I will not correct my typo. That stuff is gold.

          • Pariah

            June 20, 2016 at 14:56

            It was actually a typo? O_O

          • Raptor Rants

            June 20, 2016 at 14:57

            yes. Lol. I made a booboo. I did not intentionally misspell it hahahaha.

            Dying here

          • Pariah

            June 20, 2016 at 14:59

            *speechless*

          • Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

            June 20, 2016 at 14:57

            Quack Quack

          • Raptor Rants

            June 20, 2016 at 14:57

            But does it echo?

          • Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

            June 20, 2016 at 14:58

            Only on Q3DM17 when you fall off the map

          • Raptor Rants

            June 20, 2016 at 14:58

            huehuehuehuehuehuehuehuehue

          • Pariah

            June 20, 2016 at 14:55

            What is that? O_O

          • Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

            June 20, 2016 at 14:55

            A response to his typo

          • Pariah

            June 20, 2016 at 14:56

            Wasn’t a typo. We called it Quack 3 Arena. O_o

            If it was a typo, then it doesn’t even matter.

  9. Hunter Duck

    June 20, 2016 at 16:35

    So many opinions for what MOBA stands for. l wonder what the all-knowing wiki says a MOBA is? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplayer_online_battle_arena

    Reply

    • Pariah

      June 20, 2016 at 18:44

      Go away with your logic and facts. We’re trying to troll staff members here…

      XD

      Reply

  10. HairyEwok

    June 20, 2016 at 16:54

    I think what bothers people the most is the fact that it’s going the route of Overwatch and Doom MP. People want the old quake arena, a game that isn’t riddled with micro transactions and powerups (besides quad damage and uber health)

    Reply

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