Key facts
- Cheapest right now
- € Standard · Steam Key · Global · Kinguin
- Live offers
- 4 offers · 4 stores
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Quake Champions stopped being free-to-play on 23 September. id Software's arena shooter is now a paid game, it's sold only on Steam, and the Microsoft Store version has been pulled. Bethesda laid it all out in the notes for update 1.31, and a lot of players who already had it won't have to pay a thing.
Here's who keeps it, what it costs if you don't, and the cheap "Quake Champions keys" you should leave alone.
If you played on Steam, it's already yours
Anyone who launched Quake Champions on Steam before 23 September gets the paid version for free. It just shows up in your library, no code to redeem and nothing to claim. Before you buy anything, open Steam and look.
Microsoft Store players have one extra step. If your Bethesda.net account was already linked to Steam, the game lands on Steam for you. If it wasn't, you have until 7 October to link it and keep the game. Miss that date and you'll be paying like everyone else.
Stats and ranks carry over as long as you use the same Bethesda.net account.
What Bethesda removed, and what it unlocked
The whole free-to-play layer is gone: battle pass, in-game store, Platinum and Shards currencies, loot boxes, daily rewards, weekly and event challenges, and champion progression. In exchange, every champion and every cosmetic is now unlocked for every player. That's roughly 30 seasons of content you no longer have to grind or pay for.
If you bought Platinum in the 60 days before 23 September, you're getting that money back. Bethesda says refunds take 5 to 7 business days.
The less good news: Bethesda has no further content updates planned for now. The official servers stay up, and the game adds improved bots and custom matches, which helps if the queues get thin.
What it costs now on PC
On Steam it's €9.99 (no fees), Steam Key. In the US it's $9.99. That's the only clean way to buy the game today. Because it only went paid on 23 September, we have no useful price history yet, so we can't tell you where discounts will land.
For reference, Steam reviews sit at "Mostly Positive": 75% of 6,347 reviews (4,760 positive).
If you'd rather wait for a Steam sale, set a price alert and we'll email you when it drops.
The cheap "keys" that aren't the game
Search for Quake Champions on our comparison and you'll see offers that look like a bargain. Read the product name. They're old add-on packs from the free-to-play days, not the game: an "Early Access Starter Pack" on G2A at €1.37 (€1.66 with fees), a "Bonus Pack" on Kinguin for even less, and a few "Champions Packs" that are out of stock.
Those packs handed out champions and cosmetics. Everyone gets all of that now for free, and a content pack is not the paid version of the game. Spending money on one today makes no sense.
Our advice before you pay
Check your Steam library first. If you came from the Microsoft Store, link your Bethesda.net account to Steam before 7 October. If the game isn't there and you want it, €9.99 on Steam is the price to pay right now.
All PC offers are on the page to buy Quake Champions key, but ignore anything with "Pack" in the name.
Prices checked on the morning of 26 September.
I have been a gamer for as long as I can remember, and for the last 14 years I have been making life easier for other gamers. CEO and co-founder of Gocdkeys.
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