Quake Live in-game advertising has "not been big business"
Carmack confirms game will shift to subs model after advertising fails to carry project
In-game advertising has failed to bring in enough revenue to support id's free-to-play Quake Live, John Carmack has admitted, meaning the company will need to switch to a subscription model in the near future.
The developer announced the plan during his QuakeCon keynote address, reports Shack News, explaining that in-game advertising wasn't bringing in enough revenue to support the browser-based title.
"The in-game advertising stuff has not been big business," he admitted. "That's not going to be able to carry the project."
Instead, the game, which began its open beta in February this year, will turn to a subscription system - although Carmack stressed it will never be entirely pay-to-play. Instead, Quake Live paid subscribers will be given the freedom to configure and run their own private servers, while other gamers will still be able to play for free.
"Quake Live is gonna be Quake Live for the foreseeable future," Carmack added. "It's only just now that we're going to be able to put it to the test."