Quake Champions Goes Paid and Vanishes From Microsoft Store

Quake Champions is about to look very different. id Software's arena shooter, which has been free to play since it arrived, is being turned into a paid product, and the change comes eight years after the game first launched.

The shift is an unusual one. Free-to-play games rarely go the other direction, especially this long after release. Studios more commonly move a paid title to free in order to widen the player base, so reversing that path stands out.

There is a second change attached to the announcement. The Microsoft Store edition of Quake Champions is being killed off entirely. That is a notable detail given that id Software is a Microsoft-owned studio, and the company is effectively retiring its own storefront listing for one of its games.

With the Microsoft Store version gone, Steam becomes the only place to get the game. Players who want to jump in will have to go through Valve's platform, and they will now have to pay to do so.

The move raises questions about where the game stands. Quake Champions has had a long and bumpy life since its debut, and a return to a premium price suggests id Software wants a smaller, more committed audience rather than a broad free-to-play crowd. Whether that approach can revive interest in a game that is nearly a decade old is an open question.

For existing players, the details of what happens to current accounts, progress and purchases will matter most, and those are the points to watch as more information arrives. For anyone who has been meaning to try the game, the free entry point is on its way out, and the Steam page is now the only door left open.