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[The Flash]

So Adam Pyle (lead designer, id Software) and Jason Bergman (senior producer, Bethesda Softworks) did a "Ask Us Anything" thread over at the official Quake Champions forum where they answered a bunch of fan questions. Pretty good stuff all around and it's definitely worth a read if you're interested in the game. That being said, Jason did confirm at the very end, that Quake Champions would indeed be released on Steam.

Quake Champions will be release on Steam?
JB: Quake Champions will indeed be released on Steam. You will still be required to have a linked Bethesda.net account, but users playing the game from Steam will not go through the Bethesda.net launcher. During the current beta period the game will only be available through the Bethesda.net launcher.

https://bethesda.net/community/topic/65704/ask-us-anything-dev-answers-6-23/2

I know there was some concern that they would keep the game exclusive to the Bethesda Launcher but thankfully that won't be the case.

Here's some of the more noteworthy tidbits from the thread.

What is the biggest, most important item that development is currently working on?
AP: Our immediate focus is on improving the performance, network code, and stability of the game and implementing our latest gameplay balances. Making the game more responsive improves the quality of play for all players, and it is important to implement our more recent balance adjustments for Champions and weapons before the Quake World Championships qualifiers begin June 29th. While we will continue to update the game and bring improvements throughout the summer, we will want to limit the amount of balance adjustments we make while qualifiers are underway.
Looking beyond this week, two of our largest priorities remain Onboarding and Progress Loops. Our onboarding efforts include additional tutorials, training maps, and UI/UX improvements to build a better user experience for all our future newcomers. The implementation of new progression loops introduces new game systems we’ve designed to keep players coming back throughout the week, every week.
Meanwhile, our art teams are hard at work at generating additional content such as costumes, weapons, and vanities, keeping your loot boxes full of new items to earn, and our animation team is hard at work on… some big surprises.

Will Clutch get more love? I would love to play him but next to Scaley and Sorlag he is like 2x easier to hit and his passive is sadly pointless (damage reduction)
AP: Coming soon: Clutch has a new passive, a hydraulic Dodge, as well as a second-stage trigger to his active ability, we call the Plasma Mining Drill. The combination brings some much needed mobility and offense to our power hungry robot. Rejoice.

Is it possible that other id/Bethesda characters will find their place in the game, beside B.J. Blazkowicz?
AP: Do you want more id/Bethesda characters? Which ones?
JB: It would be great to throw every character in the Bethesda roster into the game, but some make more sense than others, and we have to be careful to add characters with active abilities that work with Quake. We’re open to suggestion.

Are you going to tone down the frequency of the characters' one-liners?
AP: We can reduce the frequency or allow players some control over both the frequency and volume. I personally like the voices because each VO line trigger is part of the audio landscape that gives cues to players when kills, respawns, and other events occur. Once you learn when VOs play and which lines, they can help you pick up on where enemies are located and in what condition. Some of this work is still a work in progress, so everyone should expect both the frequency and type of VO lines to still be adjusted. The goal is to have the voices be both fun and informative.
I admit that I enjoy hearing the Champions talk. It reminds me of the old Q3 bot chat. One thing I loved about Quake III Arena was its wide array of gladiators – males, females, aliens, undead, eyeballs, and machines of all body types. Quite progressive for the 90’s. I always wished we had capitalized more on that amazing line-up which is one aspect that contributed to the concept of Champions.

Will you have "seasonal" cosmetics and maps? Like a Christmas hat or maybe replace the mysterious pots with gifts and Christmas trees. Or candies and jack-o-lanterns during Halloween.
AP: We have a history of doing so in Quake Live, and will be looking at how to expand the festivities in Quake Champions.

Clan support: I've always been a fan of games that offer clan support. Being able to upload logos, profiles and making and changing rosters makes games more enjoyable in my opinion. It would make it so much easier setting up clan wars or tournaments. Where you can create images of your teams logo and implant them somewhere in the map and in the interface. So my question would be, will there be clan support?
AP: We have robust plans for Clans. Quake not just has a long legacy of clan participation, but was where the term clans originated from. While we can’t share our plans yet, we want to extensively support teams and find new and exciting ways to encourage, facilitate, and reward their playtime and participation.

Will there be an option in-game to record and view demos of previous games? For example in ESEA for Counterstrike, matches are automatically recorded and you can download videos of your previous games to view. Will this be a feature in the full release or something that could be added down the road? This could be especially helpful in the more competitive modes like Duels and Sacrifice.
AP: We have a replay system in development.

Do you have plans to make gibbing more "meaty"? And also make corpses gibbable?
JB: Regarding gore, we’re working on something really special we hope to show you soon.

 

[Finaika]

Every game should be on Steam.

 

[Cramoss]

Quake Champions will indeed be released on Steam. You will still be required to have a linked Bethesda.net account, but users playing the game from Steam will not go through the Bethesda.net launcher.

Thank god

 

[Joey Ravn]

Good guy Bethes... wait.

One-step-forward-two-steps-back guy Bethesda.

 

[Uriah]

Oh thank god. The Bethesda Launcher is awful in its current state. I would also like to see the game have a somewhat active community.

 

[VolticArchangel]

YES.

I thought they wanted to push their launcher after Fallout Shelter PC came out there first, timed exclusive. Was in firm belief that this was their future platform of distribution on PC, starting with QC.

Looks like the adoption rate of it, particularly their userbase, is miniscule compared to Steam.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Looks like the adoption rate of it, particularly their userbase, is miniscule compared to Steam.

Fallout Shelter has 2.1 million players on Steam. Wonder how many it got on Bethesda Dot Net Game Launcher

 

[Rickenslacker]

Thank god, this game has a chance.

 

[Yohane]

GOG too plz.

I love Steam but the more the merrier

 

[MUnited83]

Well duh. Game would have been super dead if it was Bethesda Net exclusive.

 

[OBias]

Hopefully the game will be more successful than Quake Live.

 

[bee]

i like everything they're saying but there seems to be an awful lot to do especially with a million dollar tourney coming up fairly shortly

 

[Vibranium]

Good stuff, the game should be able to gain a big userbase between the two services. Now if only Microsoft could learn from this.

 

[The Flash]

Good stuff, the game should be able to gain a big userbase between the two services. Now if only Microsoft could learn from this.

Well one could argue that they are albiet very slowly

 

[jediyoshi]

Fallout Shelter has 2.1 million players on Steam. Wonder how many it got on Bethesda Dot Net Game Launcher

Kappa

 

[CommandThrower]

Good to know! Now all the hero shooters I play have one consistent launcher!

 

[Sub_Level]

Steam is good news.

 

[bee]

anyone played the latest patch? they buffed clutch into an exaggerated ut2k4 character, shit's hilarious, gone from slowest character to fastest (in a straight line) with double tap dodge

 

[The Flash]

anyone played the latest patch? they buffed clutch into an exaggerated ut2k4 character, shit's hilarious, gone from slowest character to fastest (in a straight line) with double tap dodge

Modified his active ability with a lazer blast too iirc. I'll have to try him again today after work.

 

[dh4niel]

I downloaded that Bethesda Launcher for nothing! Nothing!

 

[Atomski]

Maybe then it will get some players in South East Asia.. last few times I tried to play I was in que forever and got nobody.