The early testing phase for Quake: Champions is not exactly around the corner, but the game’s publisher is looking for staff to help manage the game through its ‘sometime in 2017’ launch and beyond. A programmer posted a link to a job opening for an “eSports Coordinator” listing at Zenimax.
We're hiring an eSports Coordinator for @QuakeChampions ! https://t.co/GRFQwRU8JC COME TO TEXAS AND BE ESPORTS
— Mike Rubits (sponge) (@mikerubits) November 15, 2016
A few issues with this straight-away:
- The capital S indicator is present. Thus we can assume these folks have not caught up on modern esports.
- id Software have not announced the removal of ‘champion abilities’ from the game, thus the game is still going to be shit.
- The Texas site in the listing makes me wonder if ‘de facto QuakeCon program coordinator’ is part of your job description.
However, thanks to the power of Twitter, I was able to condense the essence of those above points by sharing the following tweet with my own comment attached!
Can you handle Quake being completely fucking ruined and want to manage that shit? YOU’RE IN LUCK https://t.co/xcCiLatD8U
— Brad Carr (@bcarr) November 16, 2016
The realization made by Zenimax that Quake needed to be ‘modernized’ in order to be successful is disappointing. Based on what we know now, this game is not going to resemble anything that the title should suggest. id Software should seriously consider either dropping the individuality from the champions they’re developing, or at least removing the abilities from potential ranked modes or proposed models for professional gameplay.
That’s not to say there is zero potential for Quake: Champions to bring or revisit classic game modes that Quake and its community popularized. Smaller team-based modes (such as 3v3 team death match or capture the flag) could see a return. I just can’t say I can see it succeeding the way Zenimax believe it might based on what we know now.