Since its launch in 2015, Rocket League’s success has relied on its uniqueness. No other title in the mainstream can compare to its appealing yet straightforward concept of cars hitting balls into nets. It’s like a toddler came up with the game, and I think that’s what makes it brilliant for everyone.
So much so that the Rocket League Championship Series has awarded an estimated $35 million to RL pros in over a decade, hosting LANs all over the world, from Opens to World Championships and even World Cups. Its popularity has become undeniable over the years and across the globe as a family-friendly, real E-for-Everyone sports game.
The only limitations players might run into grinding for RLCS money are internet pings and time constraints. It’s free to play, it has zero transferable skills from other video games, and it’s addicting as heck. The perfect formula for lifelong dominance, or so we thought.
It turns out an equal playing field doesn’t necessarily equal a fun one. Fair has been deemed boring, underwhelming, and stale by diehard followers, casual players, and retired pros alike, to no one's surprise.
Out of the 4,478,432 registered players on the Rocket League Tracker, only 2,445 currently hold the Supersonic Legend rank in the Duos playlist, the highest rank in the game in the most popular playlist in the game.
That is 0.055% of all rocketeers worldwide who claim the top of the hill. If the grind is tedious enough to drive even the most determined players away, how can we keep future pros and tryhards motivated and hooked on this silly soccar game?
Enter, weather physics. Currently, Rocket League graphics can display rotational maps with weather conditions, such as rain on themed pitches and snow in the Snow Day game mode, a hockey-themed variant.
These, however, are merely for aesthetic and cosmetic purposes, as no particles, layers, or textures affect gameplay in any way, shape, or form, and it’s about darn time it did. One of the most overhated game modes, Rumble, finds its charm in unpredictability. This is the blueprint for weather physics that’ll reinvent ranked and esports as a whole.
For starters, rain and snow will directly affect all actions on the pitch. Ball roll, jump height, drift control, you name it. If your car or the ball is ever in contact with the ground, it’ll be affected by the rain’s slipperiness and the snow’s density.
This will encourage more wall, ceiling, and aerial plays; therefore, it will break through the skill barrier established solely by the lack of challenging scenarios for top pros. Even World Champions will have to relearn how to pass, dribble, shoot, and flick under these new conditions, making matches more entertaining for both players and fans.
Drifting on snow or rain will inherently make it harder to rotate, so the addition of stats to car cosmetics will be imminent under this new gameplay. Better wheels for better turns, smoother hitboxes for more precise touches, rougher grill and hood for stronger shots.
Even the sun's heat could affect your boost consumption or tires’ grip, allowing players to modify their exhaust, tire pattern, and traction to account for all these changes. This, in turn, finally adds a lifelong esports dynamic to the RLCS system: Map banning.
Vetoing maps and their weather is the future of car soccer. Accounting for all scenarios and choosing a single preset for an entire series or ranked run will be fundamental to the development of players, playlists, and esports.
This will ultimately shift strategic customization away from a cosmetic-only approach, reviving the community's competitive fire and spirit. The esport would get that fresh feeling without altering the decade-old physics and mobility, just hindering them for our entertainment.
Hopefully, Epic Games and Psyonix are listening and ready to implement this as soon as Rocket League 2 is released to the public. A copy-paste mechanic system would definitely self-drive the much-speculated sequel around the back. #RocketLeague2IsDead anyone?
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