Id bossman Todd Hollenshead has explained to VG247 what the “failure” of the in-game advertising model means for Quake Live. He stated that the closure of ad firm Massive – which MS shut down earlier this year – has caused Id to rethink: “I mean, smarter people than me were making these estimations. Look at Microsoft. They spent, like, $200 million on the Massive acquisition, and they basically shuttered that division in February. So that had ramifications for us, because we used Massive. And if that was more successful, that’d have had a significant impact on what Quake Live is.”

It’s not over for the reborn Quake III, however, as Id are now experimenting with subscriptions and video-ads: “The game is an entertainment success, so now we have to figure out how to make the business model work.” And with no hats, how’s a company to make a profit? Eh?