After loosing the red line of the Quake series with Quake 4 and serious design mistakes, scaring off the veterans and old-school players, id Software orientates it Quake franchise towards current consumer habits - the web.

id Software and IGA together released last week much more than everybody expected about the in-stealth project Quake Live! (aka Quake Zero). Working together to bring us the next iteration of the classic Quake franchise. Uncovered in an interview during lasts’ Quakecon - Quake Live! will be web-browser based only Quake 3 orientated deathmatch/tournament game. With a full community experience (havn’t seen that since Facebook), including stat tracking (Minesweeper has the same feature), friends lists (I have ICQ since 1999, and my eMail address book is my Social graph), matchmaking (Blizzard hasn’t worked it out perfectly either), and sponsored tournaments (is e-sport already old-fashioned?), all within your standard web browser (what are the specs?).

Ok - but here is the serious part;

“IGA understands game developers and game players which makes them the perfect partner for QUAKE LIVE. Whether it’s been the ease of implementing their SDK or just their excitement about QUAKE LIVE, they have been fantastic to work with,” said Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software. “As we work to bring QUAKE-style deathmatch excitement to the masses, IGA has fully supported our vision.”

“id Software is among the proverbial godfathers of modern gaming and we are thrilled to be working with them on their first title in our ‘freemium’ category,” said Justin Townsend, CEO of IGA Worldwide. “This partnership is only the latest testament to the increasing acceptance of in-game as an effective, measurable advertising medium and a strategic revenue opportunity for publishers and developers.”

IGA predicts more progressive game publishers like id will create what the company has coined “freemium,” or free-to-play premium games based on their most popular titles in order to attract new audiences and open new revenue advertising revenue streams. A recent eMarketer forecast estimated the current video game advertising market to exceed $502MM and is expected to grow 23 percent year-over-year over the next five years.

The industry finally may understands that you can’t deliver and develop something like this new approach on your own - without sharing risks, debt, R&D, partnering up and collaborating with your IP.  Which goes beyond a relationship of Reven/id Software or Epic/*put a graphic studio her* or Publisher/Developer. I hope for the success of this spin-off, they will give the advantages to the community and not so much their own pockets. Not only because there is no publisher to sell something.

No word yet on when the game will officially launch. But there is a Beta sign-up.