More Quake Champions news has come out of PAX East in Boston with the reveal that the game will be free to play. Also unveiled since I last wrote about the game a couple of days ago were two new trailers – one covering the arena Blood Covenant and the other covering the champion Nyx.
Tim Willits, the creative director behind id Software’s Quake Champions revealed to Polygon earlier today that Quake Champions will provide all players access to one champion, Ranger, with the remainder of the champions behind a real world currency paywall. Free to Play users can earn an in-game currency easily to rent other champions for a limited time. The price of the unlock pack or how much in-game currency is required to rent a champion have yet to be revealed. All players will have access to the same modes, maps and ranked ladders regardless of how many champions they have unlocked in-game.
Here is a quote from the original Polygon article describing id Software’s decision to go free-to-play with Quake Champions:
“But then we also understand that we want to get as many people into the game as possible, especially outside of North America and Western Europe, where we have a massive fan base. So we want to have the flexibility to have a free-to-play option for those people.”
Also unveiled was the debut trailer for the female hero Nyx, who also appeared in the E3 trailer last year. Her passive ability allows players to run along walls, giving them a height advantage over their ground-based opponents. Her active ability grants her a brief window invisibility allowing her sneak up to her opponents to land the killing blow.
As I reported several days ago, Quake Champions is currently accepting sign-ups on their official website for the upcoming closed beta. The games open beta and eventual release will, of course be open to everyone – regardless of monetary commitment.