QuakeCon returned to the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine, Texas from August 6-9, drawing more than 10,000 registered attendees for the event's 30th anniversary. The four-day BYOC hall ran around the clock with freeplay, tabletop gaming, and community tournaments across Quake Champions, Quake Live, and DOOM II, including a $2,000 Retro Classic bracket spanning Quake 1, II, and Live.

The biggest announcement landed within hours of the doors opening: MachineGames shipped Dawn of the Machine, a free 19-map Quake episode with new progression mechanics and a new Deathmatch map, released day one across PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch 2 via backward compatibility.

The anniversary also brought a rare reunion: John Carmack, John Romero, Adrian Carmack, and Tom Hall shared a ticketed panel to mark three decades of id Software. It came only weeks after a WARN notice confirmed Microsoft's Xbox division had cut 136 of the studio's roughly 185 employees, about 74 percent of the team, giving the founders' return more weight than a nostalgia lap.

Sources: Bethesda Slayers Club, Blue's News