A new Quake game may be in the works according to new information surrounding a recently circulating rumor. Quake is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and long-time fans have been hoping that series developer id Software and publisher Bethesda will announce a new entry in the series to commemorate the momentous occasion. While there haven’t been many releases in the series as of late, with the most recent entries being 2017’s Quake Champions and Quake Live way back in 2010, there are still those wish for Quake to get a modern revival in the same vein as Doom and Wolfenstein.
Quake, Doom, and Wolfenstein, are considered by many as the three titles that popularized the FPS genre. Even though they aren’t technically the first first-person shooter ever made, the three games from id Software practically created the genre and influenced its growth in the years following their respective first releases. However, while Doom and Wolfenstein have seen a massive resurgence in their popularity over the past few years due to their recent releases, Quake has struggled to stay relevant over the past decade. For instance, Quake Champions failed to create a large playerbase, and went free-to-play a year after it was released.
In spite of the series’ recent hardships, the annual QuakeCon convention is still going strong even after 24 years and Bethesda recently released the schedule for this year’s iteration, which has hinted at the possibility that a new Quake game may be in the works. Looking at the schedule that’s been unveiled, one of the first segments during the three-day event is entitled “Celebrating 25 Years of Quake with id Software and Machine Games,” which falls in line with a previous rumor from XboxEra’s Shpeshal_Nick. In an episode of the XboxEra podcast, Shpeshal_Nick shared that id Software is allegedly working alongside Machine Games on a new Quake title and the release of Quakeon 2021’s schedule definitely lends weight to that rumor.
See Shpeshal_Nick's reaction to the QuakeCon schedule on Twitter here.
Machine Games previously worked on the Dimension of the Past DLC for the original Quake to celebrate the game’s 20th anniversary back in 2016, which gives the studio at least some experience working on the franchise. Machine Games also worked on all of the most recent Wolfenstein games from 2014’s The New Order to Wolfenstein: Youngblood in 2019, giving the company a good history of working with id Software as well. So it wouldn’t be too surprising if id Software tapped Machine Games to work on a new Quake game.
If the rumor does end up being true, it would be great news for fans of the Quake franchise. And with Machine Games’ relatively successful track record with the Wolfenstein series, there’s definitely a better possibility that the Quake series could make a proper comeback. With less than a week left until the beginning of QuakeCon 2021, fans won’t have to wait too long to finally find out if a new Quake game is actually in the works.
Source: Bethesda, Shpeshal_Nick/Twitter, XboxEra/YouTube