Quake Live Public Beta Is Here!
25 Feb 2009 by xephyr in quake live news with 6 comments
As reported earlier this week, the Quake Live open beta is released today! The Quake Live closed beta website permanently shut down about 36 hours ago to prepare for the grand opening. All we could see these last few hours was a timer, slowly counting down to 0.
A lot of questions remained unanswered. The id software developers have done a great job teasing the community during the closed beta. Right before the site went offline, we were able to find a forum post by the developers, revealing very interesting information.
What about private servers and starting my own games?
(…) Traditionally, the process of letting players rent private servers is something that is handed off to various game server providers (GSPs). Each of these GSPs sets their own prices, which are typically anywhere from about $15-$30/month for 16 player slots in a single, fixed location. Each GSP also typically has it’s own interface for managing a server that in no way is integrated with the game.
Our plan however, is to completely integrate the ability to start and manage private games directly through QUAKE LIVE, utilizing all of the friends, awareness and notification features we have available through the site. This ability will be the cornerstone of a QUAKE LIVE Premium Service that will be offered for a small monthly fee (likely less than $5 per month). So, for 1/3 to 1/6 the price that it normally costs to run a private match, we’ll be offering players the ability to easily start a private match (…)
Competitive Game Features
(…)These features have been in development for QUAKE LIVE for several months now and we’ll begin testing them with a private beta group very shortly. Since these types of settings are more appropriate for private games between friends, clan mates, or players expecting a more competitive match, we will generally only enable these features for matches that are run through the private match system (see above item), or on matches operated in association with sponsors, partners, other websites, companies or tournament operators running competitive events through QUAKE LIVE. (…)
Finally the mom … What?! … Are you still reading this article!? Go to Quakelive.com, make a FREE account and start playing this smashing first person shooter!!
You have to really admire what ID are doing. Integrated private server support for only $5 a month? AND your not locked to a specific server! You can choose region depending on who you are playing. Great stuff!
5$ to pay for something that is already paid for by advertisement..
Thats just a small fee to keep people from spamming private servers all the time, imo.
They’re not out to make a profit just from that 5$ I think :p
compared to what server renting costs otherwise, that’s not alot infy :s
say it would cost 15$ per month, 10 from advertising and 5 from yourself… that’s a deal even the devil signs!
lol at $5 dollars, exchange rates would make this a great service
Agreed, if private servers would be free, Quake Live would be bogged down with them, and I’m sure you’d see a lot less play on the pubs. Around $5 a month sounds like a steal to me.