Summary
Since its inception,Rocket Leaguehas been delighting players with its fast-paced competitive gameplay. Its combination of arcade racing withthe thrills of soccermakes it unlike any other live-service game around, which is partly why it has been as successful as it has been. Millions of players have been logging on for years to engage in everything the game has to offer, and it seems like there is no stopping this exciting experience.
But whileRocket Leaguemay still be extremely successful, live-service games do not often last forever. These games live or die on the quality of the post-launch content and the player numbers. Keeping the interest of players for long periods of time can be very difficult, especially the farther out from release it gets.Rocket Leaguehas been on the market since 2015 and still seems to have a dedicated fanbase. However, that fanbase has likely dwindled. It may be too early to call it a dead game as it still seems to dominate the esports landscape, but there is a chance the game is on borrowed time.
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Rocket League’s Gameplay Loop May Only Take it So Far
Rocket Leaguehas built itself around its easy-to-pick-up but hard-to-master gameplay. Anyone who has played a racing game should be familiar with the controlsand most people also understand the rules of soccer.This simple blend makes the game incredibly approachable, satisfying, and even a bit addicting. This has helped the game amass a massive playerbase that was over 40 million players as of 2018. In addition to that,Rocket Leaguehas also become an esports sensation thanks to theRocket League Championship Series. While that points to an incredibly healthy and popular title, that popularity may be waning a bit as the years go by.
Rocket Leaguehas been around since 2015, so naturally people would end up finding new things to play. While no live-service game has really been able to replicate the game’s core gameplay loop, some players may have grown a bit bored with the concept. Psyonix has not really shaken up the formula much, nor does the game really allow for any massive changes akin toFortnite’s numerous updates. There are various unique modes that change the core gameplay up a bit, but most of these modes tend to feel very similar.
Additionally,Rocket Leagueseems to suffer from lackluster battle passes.These Rocket Passes offer dozens of unique cosmeticsfor players to earn, but many of them look derivative. On top of that, these Rocket Passes require players to grind out hundreds of tiers if they want any chance at getting everything, with the most recent offering over 350 tiers to complete, leading to burnout. While it is nice to get all sorts of cosmetics to play with, Psyonix isn’t necessarily rewarding anything exciting or emergent.
There is no official way to gaugeRocket League’s player countas Psyonix removed the counter from the game, which some may argue is because the studio wants to hide a declining playerbase, but others have estimated that it still has over 500K players during peak times. If these numbers are true then it will likely be around for a little while longer, but that could quickly change if Psyonix does not do something to reinvent the game a bit. The Rocket Passes seem to be burning out many players while the gameplay loop has gotten stale for others, and that could ultimately prove to be the game’s downfall if the studio is not careful.
Rocket Leagueis available now on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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