Quake Live Getting Premium Subscription Service
Ad-support not enough to keep the game going, admits id founder John Carmack.
By Kris Pigna, 08/16/2009
During his QuakeCon keynote address, id founder John Carmack revealed that the until-now free-to-play Quake Live will be getting a premium subscription service to generate more revenue, after admitting that ad support alone wasn't covering the costs to run the online game (via Shacknews).
"The in-game advertising stuff has not been big business. That's not going to be able to carry the project," Carmack said. As such, the new subscription model will ad extra revenue, although Carmack promised it will remain entirely optional. An exact price and date wasn't revealed, but if a player eventually chooses to subscribe, they'll be able to run and customize their own private servers for the game. Otherwise, gamers can continue playing for free as they have been all along.
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