Rocket League esports ecosystem

Esports is often compared to sports, and Rocket League (RL) from Psyonix is an extra special case where the resemblance is the most striking. The title was released in 2015 and was immediately recognized for its unique take as a competitive game for virtually every type of audience and demographic.

In 2019 Epic Games, the developer and publisher of Fortnite, bought Psyonix along with its IP. Soon after the acquisition, Rocket League became free to play on most popular gaming platforms, including PC (Epic Store), PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch. Back when the news about the upcoming monetization change came out, the fans had mixed feelings about the future of the game.

When I heard about the switch to the free-to-play model, I was conflicted about the future prospects of this title as well. In my opinion, esports should provide everyone access to all the same mechanics relevant in competition regardless of whether they have paid anything. There are ways to exploit a free-to-play game through various practices, shifting the focus from the competitive aspect to grinding. It never happened to Rocket League though, and its community felt all the advantages of the free-to-play model without suffering the possible drawbacks.

Rocket League has been growing in popularity, gaining around 50% more hours watched on average on Twitch every year since the release. Unsurprisingly, the biggest gain in numbers came as a result of the switch to the new free-to-play model.