id Software’s Quake remains an influence on online gaming and 3D graphics to this day.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works .
Happy 30th birthday, Quake! 🎂🎈 And thank you all for playing. See you later today on https://t.co/uOnB2dub9f. 9pm – 11pm GMT+1. 🎉#quake #johnromero #fps pic.twitter.com/1TBsQfs3wZ June 22, 2026
At launch, Quake drew criticism for its intense violence and gore, which also echoed Doom’s path to infamy among media and political pundits, and caused problems for ratings boards and regulators. However, id Software ignored such noise, insisting they simply made games they enjoy playing. Quake would be the last major id Software production with the ‘classic lineup’ due to burnout and various personal conflicts, notes Wikipedia .
Looking more closely at the technology behind Quake , it was clear the dev team eschewed ‘faking it with 2.5D tricks’ like in previous seminal PC FPS titles such as Doom, Duke Nukem 3D , System Shock , and others. Instead, Quake hit the scene with true 3D polygonal worlds and character models. The true 3D transformation meant that for the first time in FPS, games could enjoy real 3D collision and physics, as well as things like fully 360-degree vision and movement, and more.
With id Software’s new game engine arriving in the Pentium era , but still crushing the best CPUs of the time, it made a market for PC 3D accelerators. These add-in cards first became essential to PC gamers in the late 90s with full 3D engine titles arriving, led by Quake . So in the same era, we saw important hardware releases like the 3dfx Voodoo , ATI Rage, and Nvidia Riva cards. QuakeGL became the killer app to drive sales of these products.
As mentioned in the intro, 3D gaming engines and hardware aren’t the only long-lasting legacies we can attribute to Quake . The game also popularized online multiplayer gaming. Another huge influence Quake had was in inspiring (and allowing) the growth of a talented modding community. As well as numerous custom maps and campaigns, the moddability of Quake enabled total conversions like Team Fortress and Quake Rally , to drop a few names.
Bill Gates once starred in a bizarre Doom promo to push Windows 95 back in 1993
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/pc-gaming/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/pc-gaming/quake-changed-gaming-forever-30-years-ago-today-seminal-title-established-online-multiplayer-culture-and-made-3d-graphics-accelerators-essential-pc-components#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
- Save Big and Play Bigger: GeForce NOW Summer Sale Brings Major Membership Savings
- WD's 2TB Black SSD price drops by nearly 20% ahead of Prime Day sale — grab the 2TB SN7100 for $242.96
- The best UK Amazon Prime Day tech deals 2026 — epic savings on premium gaming PCs and laptops, peripherals, 3D printers at Currys, Argos, Scan and CCL, too
- Award-winning resin 3D printer for beginners is 36% off — grab the Anycubic Photon P1 with dual-color material kit for $619.99
- One of our favorite budget gaming keyboards drops back down to its lowest-ever price of $45 at Amazon — RK R65 packs lubed switches, metallic knob, and gasket m
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.