Summary
QuakeCon 2024 came and went over the weekend without anyQuake. The most that the genre-defining FPS series got in the way of a mention was some gameplay of the original during the event, as all the marketing materials scraped away the namesake series in favour ofStarfield,Doom,The Elder Scrolls, and other Bethesda icons. QuakeCon without Quake… confusing.
A Crash Course On QuakeCon History
I won’t bore you with the lengthy history of QuakeCon, but to briefly summarise, it started when members of the EFnet server #quake voiced a desire to meet and game in person. The first event was held 28 years ago in Texas where attendees brought their own computers to play Quake and Doom in the hotel meeting rooms.
The last major Quake news to come out of QuakeCon was whenthe first game was remastered for the series' 25th anniversary.
These days, it’s primarily funded by ZeniMax Media and so more broadly, news of all Bethesda games is shared during the festivities, but with the Quake games left to the wayside, the event likewise doesn’t give much time to the series that started it all.
Rest In Peace QuakeCon, Long Live BethesdaCon
Understandably, long-time QuakeCon attendees and fans are a little annoyed at the startling lack of Quake. Sure, Bethesda might not have anything to announce in the way of new games, but the Ranger isn’t even on the poster (some think that’s him hidden away on the bottom left, but even that’s disputed because of how unclear it is).
Instead, we have the flagship High Elf hero fromThe Elder Scrolls Online, the T-60 power armour fromFallout, Vasco the little robot dude from Starfield, Vault-Boy (because the power armour wasn’t enough), and Doomguy. Even on the QuakeCon Steam sale, there’s no Quake on the banner.
A big suggestion, if a bit tongue-in-cheek, is that the whole thing just be renamed to BethesdaCon so we can stop pretending it has anything to do with Quake anymore. That might be a good idea, because the last new Quake game is now seven years old. I love ya Champions, but you’re getting on a bit.
