All grown up: Quake Live out of beta, got a job (offering subscription plans)

Like that good-for-nothing kid who won't leave the house and get a job, Quake Live – id Software's mostly free-to-play browser-based FPS – is moving on. Granted, having been announced three years ago this month and only being playable to the public since last February, Quake Live is a little ... mature for its age. But id just revealed via parent company Bethesda's blog (that's still weird, isn't it?) that Quake Live "has officially exited beta."

While that beta tag may have meant things weren't always rock-solid on the stability front, it also meant things were totally free on the "how do I pay for this" front. While the 'Standard' version is, and will remain, free-to-play, id is introducing two new tiers of for-pay play:

• The premium subscription, which will run you $24 each year, nabs you 20 "Premium-only" maps, a combination of all-new and classic Quake maps; a "freeze tag" game mode; the ability to "create your own clan and join up to five separate clans"; and more.

• The pro subscription will run you $48 each year, will nab you all of the premium features along with "the ability to start your own game server, specify a server location, determine the game mode and invite who you want to join you"; and the generous ability to invite three friends with free memberships to join you in any premium-level map.

For most players, we imagine the free option will be more than enough to satisfy any quick rail-gunning urges. If not, well, you've got your choice of alternatives. One final alternative for that rail-gunning urge: the somehow-still-not-out Quake Arena Arcade. We've put a line into Bethesda on that one.