by Kalem Lingg

QuakeCon Returns Yet Again

Quakecon returns to being a live, physical event after being digital only this year. Here are my impressions…

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The Return of In-Person QuakeCon

QuakeCon 2023 is just a couple of months away, and it’s finally returning to being a live, in-person event, rather than being restricted behind the screen. Exciting! 

Of course there’s probably going to be some new stuff for Starfield, maybe some details on the next Elder Scrolls, and I’m personally hoping for another Obsidian-developed Fallout. But that’s probably a bit of a pipedream by now.

Still, even with games from the dev teams under Zenimax usually being pretty good to great, the recent travesty that is Redfall, and the lasting pain from the launch of Fallout 76, have me a bit worried about what might come out of QuakeCon 2023.

Pay to Play – Well, Attend

General admittance isn’t free this time around, Bethesda seems to be focusing more on the BYOC (Bring Your Own PC) LAN party, which has always been the part of QuakeCon you needed a ticket for. 

Extending that to everyone, though? Probably going to cut down on attendance quite a bit, and it’s bringing my cynical side out. At least the digital side of things is still free, right? 

Of course, everything besides the tickets, and the BYOC, is still speculation. So most of what I have to say might not come to pass. Against the odds, we might hear nothing on Starfield, TES, Fallout, or anything.

 With the lack of general admittance and the lack of the exhibit hall, there’s a chance it could only be the mega-LAN. That would be pretty disappointing, though, so I doubt that would happen. There will probably be some new trailers, maybe one for Starfield, maybe we’ll get a trailer for a new Id Software game, but for now, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Anticipation

In any event, QuakeCon is coming back this year, and I’m looking forward to what we might get out of it. 

After the last three years, it’ll be refreshing to have an actual in-person event to go to again. I just hope we don’t get another Redfall. Seriously, what were they thinking, giving a game like that to Arkane of all studios? Give me a sequel to Prey 2017, not knockoff soulless Borderlands! 

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Are You Heading To QuakeCon?

Quakecon usually has some decently big announcements for games under Bethesda’s umbrella, so even with the changes this year, it may be worthwhile to go, even if only for the LAN party. 

QuakeCon 2023 is going to be held this August, from the 10th to the 13th, at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center, in Grapevine, Texas. If tickets are still available, it might just be worth trying to snag one.

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