Rocket League: This Game Is About To Explode The eSports Scene
Published: Aug 18, 2015 - Last Updated: Jun 5, 2020
Rocket League is one part bumper cars, two parts soccer, a dash of Twisted Metal and a hint of F-Zero.
It also might be the next big game in eSports.
Available on PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows, Rocket League is a visually stunning, easy to pick up and addictively entertaining, two to eight player soccer match played between souped-up customizable vehicles.
A sequel to PlayStation 3’s Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle Cars (2008), Rocket League was developed by Psyonix, whose previous works include Gears of War, Mass Effect 3 and a pair of Unreal titles.
Rocket League is being downloaded at a dizzying rate
Downloads have exploded since the game’s release on July 7, going from roughly 120,000 players across both platforms combined on July 11, to more than two million downloads by July 14. That number had doubled by July 17.
As of the end of month, Rocket League had been downloaded over five million times.
SARPBC topped out at 2 million.
Receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews in its very short time out, Rocket League has already climbed its way into Twitch’s top five most-watched games, coming in at number five for the month, sandwiched between Hearthstone and World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor.
As with many top eSports titles, it’s all about highlights
Along with a built-in replay editor, Rocket League recently added the ability to spectate matches, only further pushing Rocket League to the forefront.
The game does cost $20 and DLCs will set players back a few more bucks, but it’s patching regularly and features tons of customizable content for your ride, boasting of over 10 billion combinations.
Country flags are also now included.
Rocket League was available for Mac during the alpha phase, but has since been pulled over licensing issues.
The game is still expected to expand to additional platforms as the company catches up with demand.
The game for the PlayStation 4 has already become an officially sponsored eSport by the Electronic Sports League.
Who is dominating this game?
While the European scene is up for grabs, North American play is currently controlled by Cosmic Aftershock.
The team, made up of (Kronovi, Gibbs and SadJunior), has won every tournament hosted by ESL.
As of now the prize pool is almost non-existent, with $75 going to the winning team in NA and $500 to top team on EU, but expect that to change now that the rest of the eSports community has been put on notice.
