Gaming

Rocket League going to free-to-play with cross-platform progression


Rocket League – is there such a thing as a free lunch? (pic: Epic Games)

Now that Epic Games owns the makers of Rocket League they’re going to make the game free-to-play and remove it from Steam.

One of the most successful online games of recent years is to become free-to-play on all formats, as Rocket League moves from Steam to the Epic Games Store.

The fact that the game is an exclusive is less controversial than usual since it’s happening because Epic bought developer Psyonix, so it obviously doesn’t make sense for the game to stay on Steam.

There’s no specific date for the switchover, just sometime ‘later this summer’ but it will apply to the console versions as well, with Psyonix confirming as much on the PlayStation Blog.

Accompanying the change will be a major update that will revamp the tournament and challenge systems and add cross-platform progression for items, the Rocket Pass, and your competitive rank.

In other words, any progress you make in the game will carry across every format, both PC and console. This is no surprise as Epic boss Tim Sweeney recently took to Twitter to argue that buying digital items shouldn’t be limited by platforms.

‘Ownership of digital items should be a universal notion, independent of stores and platforms. So much of the digital world today is frustrated by powerful intermediaries whose toll booths obstruct open commerce to keep customers and their purchases locked in’, he said.

Once Rocket League goes free-to-play you’ll no longer be able to download it from Steam, but Psyonix has promised to continue to support the Steam version as normal anyway.

Also, for those that have paid for the game, and might be feeling a little upset at the news, they can claim the Faded Cosmos Boost DLC for free.

Plus, if you play the game online before it goes free you’ll get all the current Rocket League-branded DLC (i.e. not the licensed stuff), the Golden Cosmos Boost, the Dieci-Oro Wheels, the Huntress player banner, an ‘Est. 20XX’ banner for the year you first started playing, and have all common items upgraded to legacy.

Rocket League has changed the way it pays for itself multiple times over the years, including getting rid of loot boxes and adding Fortnite style battle passes – with the latter evidentially proving to be profitable enough to make free-to-play feasible.

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MORE: Rocket League is getting rid of loot boxes for good

MORE: Epic Games buy Rocket League makers Pysonix – Steam future uncertain

MORE: PS4 cross-play for Rocket League is live now

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