Rocket League has come a long way in just a couple years’ time. Originally released back in mid-2015, the game has managed to attain millions of players, and sell well across a variety of platforms – with the Nintendo Switch getting a version later this year. But it’s not enough that the game is enjoyed so much casually – Psyonix, the game’s developer, is looking to make it a superstar on the esports stage as well.
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Speaking with GamesIndustry International, Josh Watson, head of esports for Psyonix, noted that, “Rocket League esports was very much born from the community. It is that grass roots support that has made for a passionate community of tournament organisers and fans. Today we have several dozen community groups who are doing hundreds of online tournaments and events annually, so it has really ballooned up from the grassroots.”
Vice president of publishing Jeremy Dunham added, “The conversations we’ve had directly with players… they want more opportunities for Rocket League to become a bigger esport. That is something we are focusing on a lot.
“One of the biggest mistakes people make in esports is that they only focus on the smallest possible audience, the 50 to 100 people who are good enough to make a living out of it. We want esports to feel more like little league or football, where people are playing at all levels, from childhood to the pros. That way there is always an opportunity to play Rocket League and be a part of something. That requires a massive plan and a lot of infrastructure, but we’re spending a good amount of time putting that in place.”
The company has already hosted a number of competitions in Europe, North American and Oceania with over $600,000 in prize funds and 10 million channel views on Twitch – not to mention a partnership with NBC. But they’re just getting started, adding new in-game features and other goodies to keep the game relevant in the esports scene.
“Some of the numbers we saw included 2.29m unique viewers, 208,000 concurrent viewers across seven broadcasted languages… so some pretty big numbers,” added Watson. “To put that in perspective, between Season 2 and 3 we had a 640% increase in video watched, 340% in peak concurrent viewers, 251% increase in social media impressions, and 208% increase in unique viewers. It is incredibly promising for the RLCS (Rocket League Championship Series) moving forward.”
Whatever the case, the team looks like it’s doing extraordinarily well – and we can’t wait to see what’s next.
Rocket League is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, and coming soon for Nintendo Switch.
