Id Software have announced that their browser-based free-to-play shooter Quake Live is dropping its browser origins and becoming a stand-alone title. Id says this is in response to Chrome’s dropping of serious plugin support in 2014.

Much of the game will still function the same, with the website embedded into the client itself. Id promises that getting into games will be a smoother experience, and that players will be able to view the ping of a given server before joining a match, so connection quality is easier to judge.

As a result of this change, Id has announced that the game will no longer support Mac or Linux. Id have said that Mac or Linux users would only be able to use the game using emulators, which is of course, a legal grey area.

Id are currently accepting applications to test the game, but only from those who are currently subscribers. You can read the full blog post here.

What do you think? Would you a prefer a standalone experience or the convenience of a browser? Let us know what you think in the comments below.