September 14, 2005 Dallas, TX- The CPL has just released the details of the 1 v 1 game at the 2006 World Tour. After much anticipation and speculation the game will be Quake IV. This will come as exciting news to many people. The CPL has not used Quake in any form for years and it was long wondered if they would ever use or be allowed to use an iD software game again. The CPL and iD software appear to have worked out any previous problems they have had.  Angel mentions some of these hurdles in his audio interview on GotFrag that can be found here.

The CPL has gone with two of the most popular series of FPS games of all time. The Quake name alone will generate world wide recognition for the World Tour and should really make for a successful series of events in 2006. Quake IV was demonstrated at Quakecon this year and the buzz has been good about this upcoming game. We know that Angel was at Quakecon and saw the game first hand.  This may have played into his decision making process.  While most of the community can not know if they will enjoy playing Quake IV without first trying it, if the success of its predecessors is any indication, this game should be a huge success and have longevity as well.  For a more in depth look at the game check out the Quake IV Trailer here.

IGN did a solid interview with the lead developer of Quake IV:

"What we did with QUAKE 4 is to look at all the QUAKE titles, and we knew we wanted to create a compelling single and multiplayer game. We looked at the QUAKE 2 universe, and QUAKE 2 had the best single-player campaign. You know, it had the classic good versus evil plot, and it was easily our best selling game. We also wanted to make great a multiplayer game, and so we looked to QUAKE 3. Combining these experiences you're going to get the best QUAKE experience of them all wrapped up all in one."

If you would like to learn more about the development of the game or where this game is headed check the rest of the interview out here.

GotFrag had the chance to ask Angel a few questions about this announcement.

We considered several games in the FPS category, but after experiencing Quake 4 last summer we quickly narrowed our attention to that game only. 

id Software and Raven have really outdone themselves with Quake 4 by combining the powerful visuals of Doom 3 with the deathmatch-style of Quake III Arena.  I'm not sure that I can recall one PC game that so perfectly combines such strong single-player experience with a fluid and seamless multiplayer experience.

I hope to see some of the great pro-gamers of the past showing up at CPL events, attracted primarily by id's deathmatch-style multiplayer formula that has been incorporated flawlessly into Quake 4.

With the previous history between the CPL and iD Software, how was the CPL able to work the details out and be able to use this game at their events?

The items that were fueling our misunderstanding were mostly rumors and misinterpretations. Once Todd Hollenshead and I had a chance to talk in person we felt much better about our common vision and that opened the door to honest dialogue.  In the months following, the dialogue was proactive and culminated in a licensing agreement that is everything we hoped for.

Is there any exclusivity deal with Quake IV as their was with PainKiller in the previous World Tour ie can other tournaments use Quake IV?

In Painkiller's agreement we had worldwide exclusive rights for all cash tournaments, although we never prevented an organization from holding a Painkiller tournament.   With Quake 4 it made absolutely no sense for us to seek those kind of rights, so we didn't.  

I think it is important to add that our agreement with id Software is exclusive to CPL/CAL and CPL world events and qualifiers.   It seems that some organizers assume incorrectly that because CPL has obtained rights to use a game for competition that means they can also run tournaments for the same game without a licensing agreement.  I encourage event organizers to contact id Software to obtain a proper license to use their game.

Do you have any more details on the number of World Tour Stops next year and any finalized locations?

The entire business model of the World Tour has been changed for 2006 and in fact we are referring to it as the "CPL World Series."  Currently we are commencing our discussions with potential partners that want to hold qualifying tournaments for Counter-Strike 1.6 and Quake 4 in different world regions.   If an event organizer is interested in participating in our new 2006 project it would be best for them to contact the CPL's League Commissioner Justin Blanchard at justin.blanchard@thecpl.com   There are a number of requirements and Justin will be managing the initial selection process for CPL.

Will there be a CPL Edition of Quake IV or will you be using an out of the box copy of the game?

We are open to using a mod and if I know anything about the Quake community I can almost guarantee that a number of competition mods will be available for Quake 4 fairly quickly   These are exciting times and I'm looking forward to seeing the large Quake community rejoin the eSports scene at a large scale. 

The Official CPL Press Release can be found on the next page.