Rocket League shows the perils and potential of going free to play with its server issues and huge player numbers.
September 23, 2020, marked a shift in the life of the multiplayer hit, Rocket League. As well as making the move from Steam to the Epic Game Store, it made its football-with-cars antics free-to-play on every platform. Existing Steam players can still use the Steam version, however, and updates will continue.
Rocket League’s move from mid-priced game to free-to-play inevitably disrupted the servers in a big way, however.
This is currently impacting Rocket League services. Updates to follow. https://t.co/jjAJljmpvA
— Rocket League (@RocketLeague) September 23, 2020
It was exacerbated by the shift coinciding with a “new competitive season”. Rocket League took to Twitter to announce that “Tournaments, Challenges, and other Rocket League features are impacted by this degradation”. Whilst they managed to get the servers stable that day, it might have concerned regulars about the game long-term.
Today @RocketLeague passed 1 million concurrent players! Let's go!!!! pic.twitter.com/IuCSqSGOA8
— Corey Davis (@mrcoreydavis) September 24, 2020
It’s been mere days, but the future now looks even brighter for the already beaming game.
Corey Davis, the co-studio head of Psyonix Studios, took to Twitter to announce that the game had reached a new milestone of 1 million concurrent players. Commenters claim it went as high as 1.4 million. That comes with the caveat that all platforms are being counted given its crossplay support. It encapsulates the PlayStation 4, Switch, Xbox One, Steam and Epic Game Store populations. If you support cross-play, I think you can be permitted the boast.
It’s a big boost in player population for a game that’s mostly averaged 60,000 to 80,000 on Steam since it was released five years ago. Even on Steam, Rocket League has now hit an all-time player high of 129,060 within the last 24 hours.
For those who somehow have never partaken or just like a good deal, as we reported yesterday you can now secure yourself a £10 coupon if you redeem the game on the Epic Game Store.
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