After 8 Years, Quake Champions Is No Longer Free To Play

A new update for Quake Champions, version 1.31, has made the game no longer free to play, and you now need to pay to play.

Quake Champions launched in early access in 2017 and has been free-to-play since 2018. The game received its 1.0 update in 2022 and retained its free-to-play model until September 2026. However, if you ever played the free-to-play version of the game before September 23, 2026, then you can continue playing the game at no additional cost.

Quake Champions Removes Battle Pass and Microtransactions

Quake Champions just received update 1.31, which has made the game a paid application. Along with no longer being free-to-play, the update brings some major changes to the game. The title no longer has microtransactions and in-app purchases, which means no battle pass, weekly/event challenges, store, Platinum and Shard Currencies, loot boxes, daily login rewards, and Champion Progression.

Moreover, players will receive 30 seasons of content to enjoy, and all Champions have been unlocked for everyone. Most vanity content is now available to all users; the UI has been reorganized, and critical fixes have been made, along with some quality-of-life updates.

The update 1.31 for Quake Champions also adds new content and features. Players will get new weapons, weapon shaders, podiums, and profile icons. As for new features, there’s a new Callvote system to kick cheaters and abusive players. There’s also a new leveling system that lets players reach level 999. Check out the full patch notes below:

All Quake Champions Update 1.31 Patch Notes

Major Product Changes 

Removed Microtransactions & In-App Purchasing 

• Removed Battle Pass 
• Removed Weekly / Event Challenges 
• Removed the Store 
• Removed Platinum and Shard Currencies 
• Removed Loot Boxes 
• Removed Daily Login Rewards 
• Removed Champion Progression (the shard reward path) 

Most Vanity Content is now Available to All Users 

• Third-party entitlements, such as AMD Ruby Nyx, Twitch Rocket Launcher, Nvidia Pulsar Railgun, and merit-based rewards like QuakeCon Belts and Golden Crowns, are hidden from the Customization list unless you already own them 
• Golden Crowns can still be earned as ranked rewards for reaching Elite Rank and are hidden until unlocked 
• All other items are unlocked and available for all users to equip 
• All items are equipped through Customization 

UI Reorganization 

• Customization is now located on the top navigation of the Main Menu 
• Profile customization (profiles, nameplates. Podiums) are now found inside the main Customization section next to Outfits and Weapons 

Critical Fixes 

• Fixed several crash conditions that could occur during map loading  
• Fixed an anti-cheat false positive, surfaced as an Error 103 message 

New Content 

Weapons 

• QCON 2026 Starting Machinegun 
• QCON 2026 Starting Shotgun 
• QCON 2026 Starting Nailgun 

Weapon Shaders 

• MOONSTRIKER Rocket Launcher: Purple and White weapon shader  
• ERADICATOR Railgun: Green and Black weapon shader 

Podiums 

• Ithagnal’s HELL MAGIC Podium 

Profile Icons 

• 5 Team Arena Clan Profile Icons 

New Features 

Callvote System 

Players can now issue callvotes to kick cheaters or abusive players 

• Right-click on a player in the in-game Social menu to start a vote 
• There must be 4 or more players in a match to call a vote 
• Each player may only call 3 votes per match 
• Players vote with their “Yes” (F1) and “No” (F2) Say Command binds  

Weapon Accuracy UI & Fixes 

• Enable Weapon Accuracy – Displays the accuracy for your current weapon in the lower right corner of your HUD 
• Enable Weapon Bar Accuracies – Displays the accuracies for every weapon alongside your weapon bar on the right side of your HUD 
• Fixed hitting not tracking hits for deployables such as totems, and turrets 

Player Outline Thickness Options 

• Added Enemy Outline BOLD option 
• Added Ally Outline BOLD option 

Adaptive FPS Stabilizer 

• Reduces framerate spikes when you’re unable to maintain stable framerates at the framerate limit set (Game Options) 

New Leveling System 

• Players can now reach Level 999, but the journey will be long and hard fought! 
• Players will earn 24-Hour Haste Bonus XP every 10 levels 
• Player Profile Levels are now visible on the in-game scoreboard. This can help players identify accounts that are new to the game 

Quality of Life 

Learn Section 

• The in-game Guide is now delivered via local web files, so it will no longer be blocked in some regions. Everyone can once again read the in-game guide information in the Learn section. 

FPS Limiter Improvements 

• Fixed the built-in frame-rate limiter’s precision and pacing 
• Fixed the accuracy of the framerate on the HUD Show FPS display 

Network Performance 

• Reduced the total size of the network data being transmitted per player 

Input System 

• Threaded Input improvements for high polling rate mice and/or improved CPU usage 
• Fixed old inputs from being processed as respawn actions, which would cause the player to instantly respawn or respawn before desired 

Weapon Fixes 

• Fixed the weapon trail prediction bug, causing multiple railgun trails 
• Fixed weapon vanishing when swapping during a starting weapon upgrade that is actively in progress 

Item Pickups & Dropped Items 

• Fixed incoming power-up notification timing becoming desynced for players joining after the match starts 
• When an item drops, it will now blink in the final moments before it despawns 
• Unified how long weapons, armor shards, Stroyent, Blood Punch health, souls, and flags remain on the ground to 20 seconds 
• When you drop a power-up with the Drop Power-Up command, the power-up’s duration will now deplete 
• Fixed drop commands from issuing text chat messages when a dead player hits the bind 
• Added Power-up icons into the frag list controller for kills earned by power-up carriers 

Audio 

• Fixed a crash that could occur when unplugging or plugging in a USB headset 
• Fixed a bug that could cause jumppad sounds to play from the closest jumppad to the player instead of the correct jumppad of origin 
• Fixed missing jump, landing, falling, and jumppad sounds.  
• These were delivered in unreliable packets that could get lost 
• These events are now reliable 
• These events are now synthesized client-side when the network data fails to arrive within 200ms of the event 
• Improved the announcer VO queue system 
• It will now play a sound when selecting an audio option (armor beep, armor break, hit beep, kill beep) 
• Fixed winning / neutral / losing music in objective & round-based modes (CTF / Sac) 
• Fixed detecting the correct mood (winning / neutral / losing) when switching soundtracks mid-match 
• Increased the volume of the weapon switch sound 
• Fixed an issue in the Say Command system that could have produced multiple say commands to be sent 
• Fixed Dialogue VO cooldown that would cause some say commands to trigger text-only without VO 

Playlist Queue Stats 

• Enabled playlist queue size information in the Play Now UI 
• In-Game: How many players are in a match on your datacenters for your current playlist selection 
• In Queue: How many players are queuing on your datacenters for your current playlist selection 
• Recommended: Our best datacenter recommendation considering both your ping and how many players are active on the datacenter  

Bot Improvements 

• Bots are now marked as Level 0 on in-game scoreboards so that they can be more easily identified by new players 
• Fixed bots from having perfect aim for up to five seconds following the use of their abilities 
• Fixed bots from targeting their own totems or turrets as enemies. This behavior would occur after dropping their deployable and then dying, causing them to lose track of their ownership 
• Added the ability for bots to recognize incoming rockets and be able to intentionally dodge them, either by strafing or on some occasions jumping to the side to avoid either a direct rocket or splash damage from a predicated impact 
• Improved bot’s side-to-side dodging, making less predictable  
• Added the ability for bots to recognize when they are taking damage and to adjust their movement mechanics and goals 
• Add a bot health management system that includes scaled urgency for picking up health depending on their health value, combat retreat when losing a fight, and refusing bad fights in the first place that they are not yet equipped to win 
• In team games, when bots are in a team of at least 3 players, if the bot is in last place on their team, they will now improve their mechanical skills, becoming a better player and more effective teammate for as long as they remain in last place on their team 

Spectator Fixes 

• Fixed the spectator camera’s Auto-Follow behaviors, now when a follow mode is enabled it will immediately switch to an appropriate target if one exists (ie, power-up or soul carrier) 
• Added Follow-Mode highlighting to the Spectator Hints UI to communicate what follow mode the spectator camera actively has enabled 

Game Modes 

• Fixed Sudden Death bug in games set with Scorelimit 0 
• Fixed XP rewards for XP earned in games set with Scorelimit 0 
• Added the Weapon Bar, Ammo UI, and the new Weapon Accuracy UIs to the Clan Arena and Slipgate spectator HUDs 
• Breakables and Lore Scrolls will no longer spawn in game modes where Health items do not spawn, such as Clan Arena 

Maps 

Lockbox  

• Item layout updated: the Heavy Machinegun is now near Mega Health and the Super Nailgn is now near Heavy Armor stairs.  
• Corrected spawns that faced away from the weapon pickup 

Tower of Koth 

• We once again use the large version of Tower of Koth for FFA, TDM, and IG 
• Duel, 2v2, and UHT still use the smaller version 

Champion Updates 

Ranger Dire Orb Updates 

• Dire Orb collision size reduced by 40% from 1m to 0.6m radius 
• Splash damage now falls off from full damage down to 50% damage based on the distance from origin of explosion 
• When someone else destroys Ranger’s orb, Ranger will regain 50% of his cooldown 

Additional Champions 

• Death Knight: Fixed centered weapons moving to the right after ability usage 
• Doom Slayer: Added VO dialogue for say binds 
• Doom Slayer: Fixed Double-Jump from sometimes automatically triggering when jumping off the ground 
• Galena: Fixed in-active player totems not appearing solid through walls and would appear the same as in-active teammate totems 
• Nyx: Fixed Ghostwalk gun visibility issue after going invisible while holding the default Heavy Machinegun with a weapon shader applied 
• Random: Fixed Ranger not being chosen by the RANDOM champion any mode where it would lock in a single selection for the entirety of the match, such as Duel 
• Scalebearer: Fixed Scalebearer Bull Rush target detection 
• Sorlag: Fixed centered weapons moving to the right after ability usage 
• Strogg: Fixed Pro League outfit effects in the main menu 
• Strogg: Fixed an issue that could cause the Strogg player model from entirely vanishing when entering or exiting cloak 
• Strogg: Fixed the cloaking particle effects when entering or exiting cloak 

Main Menu UI 

• Fixed the persistent blur effect in the main menu after escaping the Battle Report 
• Fixed repeated ranked sequences and improved Battle Report navigation  
• Fixed missing K/D data on Battle Report statistics 
• Fixed the sorting of bot names in the Custom Game Lobby Add Bot dropdown list to now be alphabetical 
• Fixed the Champion Roster from closing after making a champion selection while in the Weapon Customization menu 
• Fixed duplicate values in the Custom Game Score Limit, Time Limit, and Weapon Respawn Time dropdowns, adding support for them to now default to the correct value instead of the first in the list. We now also mark the default value for easy identification 
• Fixed the Armor Break FX setting description 
• Fixed changing podiums in customizations not automatically refreshing the actively loaded podium 
• Fixed the head icon art for Random in the bot dropdown list 

Vanity Items 

• Fixed Weapon Shader loadout saving 
• Fixed vanity items that didn’t receive Quad Damage or Protection power-up effects 
• Fixed Skull & Bone Podium texture quality 

Datacenter Updates 

• We have reduced the number of datacenter locations, consolidating more players into the same server locations to provide faster MatchMaking. We recommend that you check your selected datacenters in-game and utilize the new Playlist Queue stats to help determine the best datacenters to use when searching for matches. 

The patch notes were found on the game’s Steam page.

What are your thoughts on Quake Champions no longer being free-to-play? Leave your thoughts down in the comments, and join the official Insider Gaming Discord server.

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Written by

Sam Sepiol

News Writer

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