Rather unfortunate news has hit the Quake Live community. The id Software and Bethesda game isn’t free on Steam anymore. The old launcher and services have been retired and the title has moved over to Steamworks. However, the transition means things were lost.
People who had already added Quake Live to their accounts are fine. They still have the game for free. Anyone who wants to play it from here on out has to pay $10 for it, though.
This doesn’t mean people who already had Quake Live are unaffected. While the game now relies on Steamworks for lobbies, friends lists, accounts, chats, achievements, statistics, trading cards and a mod workshop, it also means that the old friends lists and statistics from prior accounts have been lost. In addition, Pro subscriptions are now meaningless and people who didn’t download Quake Live through Steam before have to deal with customer support to get set up again.
Quake Live first entered a closed beta phase in 2008, followed by a full launch in 2010. It first appeared on Steam in 2014.
Source: Kotaku