QuakeCon will remain an online-only event this year

Bethesda has confirmed that QuakeCon 2022 will once again be a completely digital event when it returns this August. 

The announcement was published on Bethesda’s QuakeCon page, with the company writing that while it’s “disappointed to not return to Dallas this year”, an event as large as QuakeCon “requires months of planning, and in this case, we had to make decisions when there was still too much uncertainty to commit to successfully executing an in-person QuakeCon.”

Plans for the show are still being finalized but the team putting the digital event is, Bethesda says, currently working “to put together exciting new streaming programming, online meetups, giveaways, charity opportunities, the virtual BYOC, and more”.

QuakeCon 2022 will run across August 18 to August 20 and Bethesda has promised that more information on what it has planned for the show will be revealed in June. 

This will mark QuakeCon’s third year as an all-digital event after both the 2020 and 2021 events were pushed online as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Bethesda expresses confidence in its announcement that things will turn a corner in 2023, though, and it’s planning for the return of an in-person show. 

“We’re committed to returning with our full in-person festival in 2023,” the post reads, “and already looking forward to reconnecting with friends, a massive BYOC packed with your latest custom PC creations, our crazy contests, and tons of great new games and hardware for attendees to try out.”

Analysis: Exercising caution

For a couple of years we’ve watched the coronavirus pandemic push once bustling gaming events online or cancel them entirely. This year, though, we’ve seen a couple – a recent example being GDC – begin to re-embrace in-person elements.  

It is, however, a mixed bag and this announcement from Bethesda shows that not every show is going to take the same approach, which is pretty understandable given the pandemic is still ongoing. We already know, for instance, that Gamescom 2022 is going to attempt to mix digital and in-person elements, while Summer Game Fest will continue as an all-digital event as it always has been. 

E3 2022, meanwhile, has been cancelled entirely, with the ESA announcing recently that it’s pulling the plug on plans for a digital show this year. Like Bethesda, the ESA is looking to 2023 as the year to get things back on track, stating its intention to “devote all our energy and resources to delivering a revitalized physical and digital E3 experience next summer.” 

As for what we can expect to see from QuakeCon 2022, well, specifics aren’t available at the moment but the event has previously had a nice mix of deep-dives, tournaments and developer panels as well as a few exciting announcements.