The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of Rocket League

By Ian Tan

Rocket League

By: Ian Tan

Jynxzi did what Epic Games couldn’t — make people care about Rocket League again.

Psyonix, an unknown game company at that time, released Rocket League in 2015. The concept of the game was simple: soccer, but with cars that could jump, boost, and fly. Within a month of the game’s release, over five million players have downloaded the game, all interested to see this simple yet unique gameplay. What made rocket league different from most other games was the skill ceiling. The gap between a beginner and a professional player was vast and visible. In the e-sports, players could see the professionals perform mind-blowing aerial shots or flip resets, motivating new players. Not only were there players playing the actual game, but there was an economy: trading. And that was a big part of Rocket League. Free-to-play players could obtain rare items through hard work or jut pure luck

When Epic Games, a more popular game company, acquired rocket league, the game itself was made free and the games population rose to tens of millions of players.

But somewhere in mid 2021, Epic Games kept introducing bad choices that pushed the community back, but that was not it. The removal of trading in 2023 was the most controversial, a system that players relied on was thrown in the trash and it emerged a more controlled economy which felt like a cash grab from Epic Games. The community was furious. Then the game fell stagnant, players felt like there were no new updates in content and started to quit. 

Jynxzi, who is known as one of the biggest rainbow six siege streamers in the world, had just quit Clash Royale because of their failure to credit him for the resurgence of the game, which was another game he revived. He was planning to move on to another game when three pros, Tenacity, Musty, and Squishy introduced him to the game. Because of the high skill ceiling, Jynxzi and his followers felt that there was so much to do in Rocket League. He brought joy, rage, and disbelief while playing the game, and introduced it to his other streamer friends as well. Now, it has surpassed 1 million concurrent players for the first time since 2020. He has also discussed his feelings on bringing trading back, and who knows, maybe Epic Games will listen.

Will Rocket League’s revival just be a fluke and a short trend? Or will Jynxzi continue to play alongside other streamers? Will trading come back? No one will know unless Epic Games will listen to its community again.