id Software has revealed that it’s planning a premium subscription service for Quake Live.
While the web-based shooter is currently free-to-play only, id founder John Carmack said that the in-game advertising which provides the basis for the game's business model isn’t going to be able “to carry the project."
"The in-game advertising stuff has not been big business," he said during his QuakeCon keynote, according to ShackNews.
Incoming Quake Live subscriptions will enable players to configure and run their own private servers for the shooter, Carmack explained, also noting that the game would never go entirely pay-to-play.
"Quake Live is gonna be Quake Live for the foreseeable future. It's only just now that we're going to be able to put it to the test."