Some pretty huge news has been unveiled by developer Psyonix regarding their hit multiplayer “soccar” simulator Rocket League. In an announcement made on the official Rocket League site, the devs have announced that the game, starting later this summer, will become free-to-play.
The post started off by talking about Rocket League's roots from five years ago up to now where it has already accumulated a billion soccar matches played. Rocket League will now be finally entering its next chapter where the main priority is to make their already “dedicated and amazing community” even bigger by switching the game to a free to play model.
First off, what does this mean for the game itself? Psyonix has confirmed that the core gameplay will remain the same, but the development team is in the process of refining the game’s UI and main menus to make exploring the game “easier”. Huge revamps and improvements of major features are also coming to Rocket League’s Tournament and Challenges Modes. Psyonix has also stated that the addition of cross-platform progression is coming along with the improvements, which is a huge plus for those who have friends across multiple platforms.
Since we’re already talking about cross-platform and cross-play, perhaps the most polarizing part of the announcement comes in the form of the developer’s partnership with Epic Games. Once the game becomes free to play, it will become available on the Epic Games Store. No big deal, right? However, this also means that those who are looking to play Rocket League for the first time after it becomes free can only download the game through the Epic Games Store as it will no longer be available on Steam. It also will be required to have an Epic Games Store account if a player wants to enjoy the game’s cross-platform progression system. It’s undeniable that there is a loud community of gamers that dislike the Epic Games Store, but we’ll still have to wait for its launch date to see whether there is going to be a huge impact on the game’s already considerable success.
The good news is that those who already purchased Rocket League on Steam will still be able to play it there. The Steam version will also be updated like all the other versions. If you want to have Rocket League on Steam, you'll need to purchase it ahead of the switch to Epic Games Store.
Lastly, a number of bonuses for those who have played online before the free to play launch will be given out as well. A complete list can be found here. Rocket League is currently available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch.
