Chris Mumola has released the sixth installment of his Substack series “Quake’s Bizarre, Beautiful History”, titled Episode Six: Lost in the Void. This chapter focuses on the uncertain years following Quake 4, when id Software struggled to keep the franchise afloat while the FPS genre shifted dramatically around it.

The article opens with a look at Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (2007), a spinoff that borrowed heavily from the Battlefield formula. Despite solid asymmetrical gameplay and faction-based objectives, the game arrived just days before Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare—a timing mishap that buried it almost instantly. Mumola notes how Quake Wars ended up being more of a decent military shooter than a true Quake experience, and how its identity crisis ultimately worked against it.

The piece then transitions to Quake Live, id’s experiment to revive Quake III Arena as a free-to-play browser title. Initially launched in 2008 as a beta, Quake Live introduced new maps, modes, and accessibility improvements while keeping the core gameplay intact. Over time, it moved to a client-based model and eventually arrived on Steam. While never a mainstream hit, the game maintained a strong competitive community and helped keep Quake relevant throughout the early 2010s.

Source: Chris Mumola's Substack