Deathmatch-style FPS games have undergone great change since the days of Quake at the first CPL events in the late 1990s. Games from franchises such as Quake, Unreal Tournament, Painkiller and Alien vs. Predator have all been the featured individual 1v1 competitions at CPLs and other major tournaments. Every game in that line has featured some form of new gameplay. Even the smallest changes to the games have considerable effects on competitive and casual play.
Some of the greatest players in the genre’s history have been active in the latter half of the 2000s in various games. The Swede Johan "toxjq" Quick, for instance, was the greatest Quake 4 player during the game’s lifespan. Toxjq won well over $100,000 in the game’s short competitive career (which began in late 2005 and ended around 2007), an exceptional accomplishment.
Today, the premiere deathmatch game is Quake Live, a free to play version of the most successful competitive 1v1 FPS of all time, Quake 3 Arena.
Although its audience is relatively small compared to games such as *StarCraft 2 *or League of Legends, the fact is that Quake Live continues to attract a steady if shrinking stream of fans thanks to its exciting and easy to grasp gameplay.
The game’s stars are still some of the most recognizable and respected in Western esports. Anton "cooller" Singov, Alexei "cYpheR" Yanushevsky and Shane "rapha" Hendrixson are three of the most successful players, each boasting over $100,000 winnings in Quake Live (where, it must be said, prize money is relatively low compared to other modern esports) to say nothing of their success in previous deathmatch titles.
Since what feels like the beginning of time, Quake fans have always been able to rely on QuakeCon to provide top tier competition no matter what the rest of the fickle world of esports might do with their game. ESL’s IEM (until 2011) and DreamHack have provided relatively consistent support for the title but QuakeCon, with its home-field advantage, is always a much sought after title.
cYpheR, the adaptive Belarussian with an affinity for rockets, first gained the spotlight at 16 years old in 2006 when playing Quake 4. At this point, he was too young to play in the CPL or the WSVG. His first major victory was over the already legendary cooller in the semifinals of the 2006 ESWC tournament. The younger cYpheR beat his idol cooller to take the silver at the year’s ESWC. Over the years, cYpheR had established the decisive upper hand in the emerging rivalry.
In 2010, both cooller and cYpheR (the former Russian, the latter Belarussian) met in the finals of QuakeCon in its customary home of Dallas, Texas.
By 2010, both players had "been dominating and entertaining the Quake world for more than a decade [between them] with a style of play that brings out the very beauty that the game holds," wrote Rod Breslau. “Air rockets, prediction railgun shots and plasma balls, mind games within mind games.”
While cooller aimed for his first ever QuakeCon title, it was the younger cYpheR who would instead win his second championship by orchestrating a cerebral masterpiece of a match. Although it took a comeback overtime win and pushed both players to show off their celebrated razor sharp minds for the game, cYpheR emerged with a memorable victory by the smallest of margins over his Quake hero.
As Quake shrinks even further, as fewer and fewer events are willing to pony up the necessary cash to fund major Quake competitions, one of the oldest and most loved esports of all time refuses to die.
One reason it lives on?
"[Modern shooters,] they’re really slow," said John Romero to 1UP.com. “Like Gears of War is crazy slow ‘cause you’re just a bullet sponge. They’ve altered the FPS paradigm to something I’m not even interested in playing. I don’t want to be a bullet shield. I want to be skillful, nimble and fast.”
"For my birthday, I wish for my favorite game to have a rebirth," said Slasher on his 26th birthday. “Everyone else’s game has one! StarCraft, Counter-Strike! Why not Quake?”
Why not Quake?
The visuals, once considered technical marvels, are now a turn off to some gamers. It’s an old game and is considered cartoonish.
The game is also hugely difficult. New players face the grave challenge of older veterans who possess an arsenal of tricks years in the making. It is extremely difficult for new players to enter the Quake community because the average skill level in so high. Most players leave in frustration.
However, as a franchise well over a decade old, it remains one of the most beloved esports ever. Disregarding entirely its historical achievements, it is difficult to overstate how well *Quake *performs as a competitive title. The game is a perfect esport.
For spectators it is incredibly easy to follow what is happening, Quake being perhaps one of two of the easiest esports games to jump into along with Street Fighter. The game’s visual style is clear and precise to the point of beautiful, the gameplay is fast and deep and hypnotic, the community is rich beyond counting in loyalty.
Why not Quake?