Overthinking the Ghostly Return of Quake

Quake Champions' Loading Screen.

I think it's the right time to follow up my previous Quake post, where I talked about some lore stuff from Champions. Originally I wanted to start writing this earlier, but decided to wait until The Ancient Gods Part 2 gets released since for some reason I thought we could get some new hints about potential new game in this franchise... I know it sounds quite dumb, but for some reason it made sense in my head at the time.

That being said, I think there're still some things I could look into and share more thoughts about this topics: why I think there's a slim chance for an announcement this year and who might develop a new Quake game. Just another discussion without going too far into typical "crazy speculation" territory that's very common nowadays... I hope.

Annoncement.

First of all, it's all about timing. This year is Quake's 25th Anniversary, so that's a great moment for an announcement and maybe even some other stuff. Five years ago we got Dimension of the Past from Machine Games (and I'll go back to that), so maybe they'll release another episode at the very least. Something similar to classic DOOM's "Unity ports" for Quake games would be nice, but I guess it's less likely.

We also need to take into the account the state of id's other franchises. The Slayer Saga for DOOM was concluded and I think it's safe to assume that this series might get a break for some time. Wolfenstein also seems to being close to the end for its modern iteration after Youngblood's setup. That mobile Commander Keen game was probably abandoned and Rage is just there, so that only leaves Quake.

Taken from Steam.

Let's not forget about Quake Champions, except there's actually not much there. I've tried to look closer at some recent updates just in case. Shambler Arm from Winter 2020 update is genius. Spring 2021 update that's tested on Public Test Server now brings four new Vanity items for Ranger and Quake 3 weapons, which is oddly specific. Makes sense in the context of upcoming Anniversary in June 22, but that's Summer and we're talking about Spring update... Speaking of which, we know that Xbox is planning to host a certain event in June that will have more Bethesda news since they've mentioned that in their recent roundtable. There's also Quakecon 2021 that's probably gonna be a digital event again and should follow later on somewhere around late July and early August. New Quake game could very well be a Xbox exclussive and it wouldn't be the first time: Quake 4 had the same fate as one of the launch titles for Xbox 360.

Developers.

Honestly, I doubt that id Software is really involved in new Quake game, if it's actually developed right now. They seem to be too focused on DOOM Eternal. Despite the recent release of The Ancient Gods Part 2, the game needs more attention to get missing content like Invasion mode. Who knows what's gonna happen after that, as it seems like DOOM might get some kind of a break for some time. In theory, they could take a certain part in development like with Rage 2, but I think there're more likely candidates for such position... Although I think they're also the ones who work on Quake Champions now? No idea.

MachineGames is one of them. They're working on Wolfenstein series and also develop an Indiana Jones game with Lucasfilm and Todd Howard. Two latest Wolfenstein games, Youngblood and Cyberpilot, were developed in collaboration with Arkane Games. There was also some collaboration with id Software during New Colossus' development. It's also worth noting that Hugo Martin expressed (couldn't find original video) his desire to work on a Wolfenstein game about "Blazkowicz's last mission"... which is probably what Wolfenstein 3 is gonna be. Maybe it's a foreshadowing of another upcoming annoucement?

Going back to Dimension of the Past, I would like to specify that MachineGames are fans of Quake. Jerk Gustafsson talked about their Quake modding room that gathers every Wednesday evening and have fun... That's just sweet. Clearly they would be interested in working on that franchise as well. I mean, he said that during AMA:

Jerk Gustafsson: "Quake is the reason I got into gaming. Discovering WorldCraft and Level Design, making maps for Quake, was one of the best experiences of my life - I even still do it today. Developing a Quake game (a re-imagination of Quake 1) is and will always be on my bucket list, but working with Wolfenstein and getting to work closely with my heroes over at id Software is pretty awesome too."

Starting area of Dimension of the Past.

Last but no least, Roundhouse Studios. Basically a Human Head Studios that went over to Bethesda Softworks after their closure, following the release of Rune 2 in 2019... Yeah, that's kind of weird. I'm not familiar with Human Head, but something tells me their story is rather interesting. Original Rune looks neat and they've also developed Prey (the one from 2006; not familiar with it, but people seem to love it) and worked on its sequel before its cancellation by Bethesda. But that's not even all, because the studio itself was founded by six developers from Raven Software in 1997 after Activision came in and all of them are still there.

You know, despite some seemingly odd releases after Prey, having some Heretic and Hexen developers behind new Quake game sounds pretty cool and that's why I counted them in. We don't know what they're working on yet and Roundhouse Studios looks like a potentially good candidate for this position. At least in theory. Still, I think them and MachineGames are most likely candidates here.