Quake Champions moves to paid release and removes battle pass

Quake Champions has changed course. After years as a free-to-play arena shooter, id Software’s fast PC multiplayer game now costs money on Steam, with its old store, Battle Pass and premium currencies removed. Existing Steam players keep access without paying again, so the price change mainly affects newcomers. Bethesda has paired the move with a clear change in development plans: no new content updates are planned at present. Servers remain online. Matches still run. Quake Champions hasn’t disappeared, but its long stretch of seasonal additions has ended.

The free-to-play systems are gone

The biggest change is easy to spot. Quake Champions no longer carries the structure built around its free-to-play years. The Battle Pass is gone, along with the in-game store, loot boxes, daily login rewards, weekly challenges and event challenges. Platinum and Shards have been removed too. Players who bought Platinum during the 60 days before the switch can request a refund.

Most cosmetic items now sit inside the paid package rather than behind currencies or seasonal progression. A small group of promotional and achievement-related items remains separate. New players get the full Champion roster from the start. No character grind is required, and there’s no need to buy individual Champions. For anyone arriving in 2026, Quake Champions now presents itself much more like a traditional multiplayer release: buy the game, install it, pick a Champion and play.

Update 1.31 changes more than the price

Version 1.31 isn’t limited to monetisation changes. A new callvote system lets players start a vote against cheaters or abusive players during a match. HUD options can display weapon accuracy, and players can change the thickness of friendly and enemy outlines.

id Software has worked on performance and input, too. An adaptive FPS stabiliser aims to reduce frame-rate spikes on systems struggling to hold a chosen limit. Network changes cut the amount of data sent per player, and input work targets high-polling-rate gaming mice.

Several crash bugs have received fixes, including issues linked to map loading and USB audio device changes. The patch addresses an anti-cheat false positive tied to Error 103. Profile progression remains. The level cap now reaches 999, with profile levels visible on the scoreboard and temporary XP bonuses appearing at set intervals.

A long run from Early Access to 2026

Quake Champions first entered Steam Early Access on 22 August 2017. id Software developed the game with Saber Interactive, aiming to bring Quake’s arena combat into a modern multiplayer format. It switched to free-to-play in August 2018 and stayed in Early Access for several more years. The full release arrived on 18 August 2022.

Its pitch mixed classic Quake movement and map control with character-based abilities. Players still rocket jump, race for armour, control weapon spawns and fight for position, but each Champion brings different statistics and a unique ability.

The roster includes 16 Champions, with familiar id Software faces such as Ranger and Doom Slayer. Over time, the game picked up new maps, cosmetics, weapons and seasonal rewards across 30 seasons.

Update 1.31 closes the chapter on regular content releases. It still contains a final set of cosmetic additions alongside fixes and system changes, but Bethesda has no new content updates listed for the game.

Steam becomes the main home

The Microsoft Store version is being retired as part of the move. Players who used Quake Champions through Microsoft’s store can move across to Steam through Bethesda.net account linking. Existing Steam users don’t need to do anything extra. The paid edition remains in their library.

This leaves Quake Champions in a much simpler state than before. It’s now a paid PC arena shooter with its Champions, maps and most cosmetics included, minus the seasonal store structure built around its free-to-play period.

For a game launched into Early Access nine years ago, it’s a sizeable change in how new players buy it and how existing players interact with its progression systems. The core multiplayer game remains available, servers are still active, and update 1.31 draws a clear line under the content model Quake Champions used for much of its life.