Today, I'm not going to talk to you about a novelty, but rather about a game already released, which will have left its mark on the video game landscape. Because sometimes it's good to look back a little to refocus on the present, this time we're going to talk about Rocket League!
Back in 2015
It's almost a game out of nowhere that landed in July 2015 on our PCs and PS4. I then remember having heard about it a little by chance, a little before its release, and having immediately hooked on its extremely simple concept: a football game with cars. But what a brilliant idea!
So I jumped on it right away when it came out and I had also been able to preview it. It's really funny to see the evolution since (oh my god, I'm ashamed of my way of playing on the video!) and also to see that finally, I hadn't been too wrong about the game by putting forward the accessible aspect of the gameplay, with enormous potential for progression.
Because that's really Rocket League. Easy gameplay to start, but hard to master. And that's certainly what allowed the game to have the success it knows now. But I'm going a little fast. Let's take a little detour in 2008. The Psyonix studio, created in 2001, but whose two previous projects were canceled, released Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, on PS3. A game that will lay the foundations for its successor Rocket League, already offering football matches by controlling cars with turbo. The game is published by the studio directly on the Playstation Network, having failed to find publishers. Unfortunately, it will not meet with great success, despite two million downloads recorded, but it nevertheless began to unite a loyal community.
After three other games that we can quickly forget and some contributions to well-known titles (Bulletstorm, Homefront, Mass Effect 3 among others), Psyonix gets to work on Rocket League in 2014, to release it a year later. later, on PS4 and on Steam.
And so it was in 2015 that the tidal wave arrived! The press, first of all, whose feedback has been extremely positive (with a nice 86/100 at Metacritic). And especially among the players, who gave him a rather warm welcome (if I may use this euphemism). Take a look at the numbers instead:
- One million active players in September 2015.
- 6 million downloads in October.
- November 2016: 8 million copies sold.
- March 2017: more than 10 million.
Figures that make you dizzy and are impressive, especially for a game that could be described as independent and moreover self-published. In 2019, Psyonix announces 60 million active players, even though it has not even become Free-to-play yet.
A game that has evolved
At present, the success of Rocket League is clearly well established. And yet, it continued to evolve with updates, offering both free content (including new arenas and new game modes) and paid content (exclusively cosmetics).
The background of the gameplay does not change him. It still retains its accessibility and technical side. But besides that, other game modes are starting to appear. This is particularly the case of the Hoops mode, abandoning football to offer clashes on the theme of basketball, making its appearance in 2016. The same year, it is Snow Day, initiating the joys of Ice Hockey , with a ball in the shape of a puck. Let's also mention the Rumble mode and its Mario Kart bonuses, or the Dropshot. Again, Rocket League is no exception to the rule, with ultra-accessible game modes, but which ultimately turn out to be extremely deep and complex.
Cosmetics are also an important part of the game's success. While we had from the start the possibility of obtaining different cars, of customizing certain parts of them, Psyonix had the brilliant idea, almost from the start, of s associate with great licenses. In October 2015, players got a DeLorean straight out of Back to the Future. Rocket League will then join later with other well-known licenses, and always related to the news: Batman vs Superman, Fast and Furious, Jurassic Park. In addition to these very juicy licenses, cosmetic content was added very regularly, not always in very good taste, it must be admitted... but there is something for everyone, precisely!
Rocket becomes... Epic!
In 2020, a little thunderclap. Epic Games, the proud owners of Fortnite, announce that they have purchased the Psyonix studio. Exit therefore Steam, it is on the Epic Games Store that we find Rocket League, and now in a Free-to-Play format. And with many other new features: cross-platform, cross-save, the addition of tournaments... and for console players: no longer need to have a subscription to online services, such as Playstation Plus or Nintendo Online. Rocket League is open to everyone!
At a time when Free-to-Play are popular, but are still generally not very well seen, this turning point in Free-to-Play has clearly given a new lease of life to Rocket League. While the game announced 60 million players in 2019, we no longer have precise figures after the change of economic model, but there is no doubt that success is still there.
The content is not outdone, despite this move to Free-to-play. The additions are mainly cosmetic, it is true, but from time to time new game modes appear. This was particularly the case very recently with a partnership with the NFL (American Football League), offering a game mode precisely mixing American football and the classic gameplay of Rocket League.
There are also Battle Passes for each season, which are very fashionable in games at the moment. But whether it's in the Battle Pass or in the special packs (like the one on F1 that Onidra presented to you a few months ago), all the content remains cosmetic and does not provide any advantage over the others. The gameplay of Rocket League remains and will remain (we hope in any case) always clean, a thousand miles from the dreaded Pay-to-win.
And now ?
Well, now Season 4 (seasons have started from scratch since arriving on the Epic Games Store) has just started, with new players arriving all the time.
In itself, the substance of the game has clearly not changed. We always find this very simple gameplay, with a huge margin of progress. And I think that's really THE reason that Rocket League has been able to find its audience and ensure the loyalty of players throughout these six years.
Currently, Rocket League offers its fourth season (the fourth since the game is on the Epic Games Store) and we see that the game still arouses as much enthusiasm. Like what, very simple concepts can give great games!
