Following Rocket League‘s two week long fifth anniversary celebration, Psyonix announced today that the game will move to a free-to-play model later this summer. Along with the change in monetization, Rocket League is leaving Steam for the Epic Games Store. This hardly comes as a surprise, given Epic’s acquisition of Psyonix last year. Despite claiming that there were no plans to remove Rocket League from Steam, Psyonix will no longer sell the game there once the free-to-play update goes live.
Thankfully, that doesn’t mean Steam copies are worthless. Although Psyonix won’t continue selling the game through Steam, future updates will come to Steam, and players that already own a copy can continue to play. In the press release, Psyonix sums up the move nicely: “To put it simply, wherever you play now (including Steam), you’ll still be able to play in the future.”
The main reason for this move is cross-platform play and progression. Like Fortnite, Rocket League players will be able to tie their game to an Epic account, enabling them to retain their progress across platforms and play with those on other systems. Progression includes ranks, acquired items, the Rocket Pass tier, and any completed challenges.
Although Psyonix hasn’t officially announced anything about the new monetization model, it’s all but confirmed that we’ll see an uptick in microtransitions in the game, despite numerous complaints from fans.
But I bought Rocket League…
Although Psyonix’s announcement is sure to draw some colorful responses from fans. Psyonix has a plan to address the potential disappointment though. Players that already own a copy of Rocket League will have access to some extra goodies once the free-to-play patch goes live. The 75 million or so players who currently own a copy are being updated to “Legacy” status. That title grants access to the following:
- All previously released Rocket League-branded DLC
- “Est. 20XX” title, noting the player’s first year on Rocket League
- Over 200 Common items upgraded to “Legacy” quality
- Golden Cosmos boost
- Dieci-Oro wheels
- Huntress player banner
The above extras are available to anyone who buys Rocket League before the free-to-play patch, even after today. If you’ve played Rocket League online prior to today, you’ll also get the Faded Cosmos boost, pictured above. We don’t know when the free-to-play patch will go live, though it sounds to be coming soon. In the meantime, you can pick up Rocket League on Steam exclusively for $20. Once the patch goes live, you’ll still be able to download and play Rocket League on Steam, though new players won’t be able to buy it.
