Rocket League RLCS 2021-22 Season Is Changing In A Big Way

You’ve likely already seen some of the stream for this, but we wanted to give you the low-down on all of the new RLCS announcements anyway, because we’re just kind like that. We actually got a chance to listen to both Murty Shah and Cliff Shoemaker who are in charge of Esports over at Psyonix, and they basically enthused about everything you’ll read below.

They also stated that in-person events will be returning, but they’ll be focussing on keeping the players safe above all else, which means there’ll be no fans at the LANs for the time being. Hopefully that’ll change, but who knows. Anyway, here’s the news you came for.

RLCS is changing

So, first of all, the new prize pool is $6,000,000 across RLCS this time around, which is both the largest prize pool ever, and also just a staggeringly large sum of money for people who have, statistically, said What a Save! at some point in their lives without being earnest. We’re not salty, we’re just also not pros, and probably too old at this point anyway. That’s not all that’s changing though.

There will now be more regions in the RLCS, with Asia-Pacific North, Asia-Pacific South, and Middle East & North Africa entering the fray. That’s not all though, the Sub-Saharan African tournaments will also mean that two teams from their get into RLCS too, which should make for a really fascinating tournament thanks to all of these new potential faces. Murty Shah also told us that more regions could be added based on the player-depth and the demand in those places, so if you think you’re genuinely good enough to go pro, get together with other players from your region and show that fact off.

Each split also comes with its own format. The Fall Split will be a swiss format that leads into single-elimination. Winter will bring group stages into double elimintaiton. Finally, Spring will just be double-eliminaiton. It should mean that each event feels a bit different, which is a fun way to keep us all interested over the nearly year-long tournament.

The World Championship Is Also Changing

Given that RLCS is changing so much, it’s no great surprise that the Rocket League World Championship is also going to be different. There will now be two stages, with the World Championship Wildcard being on one, and the Main Event on the other. This should give viewers the opportunity to check out whichever they feel is more exciting.

It’s also going to do a far better job of representing the world at large, with there being far more seeded places to better reflect the new regions in RLCS:

• North America: Three seeds
• Europe: Three seeds
• Middle East & North Africa: Two seeds
• Oceania (OCE): Two seeds
• South America: Two seeds
• Sub-Saharan Africa: Two seeds
• Asia-Pacific North: One seed
• Asia-Pacific South: One seed

Basically, if you’re into Rocket League esports, then you’re going to have a very good year, with events going on basically constantly for a long time.

RLCS 2021-22 Season Schedule:

All of that’s good news and all, but you’ll probably want to know when you can actually check all of this out. Well, here you go:

Fall Split

• NA, MENA, OCE, APAC S Regional #1: October 15 - 17
• EU, SAM, APAC N Regional #1: October 22 - 24
• NA, MENA, OCE, APAC S Regional #2: October 29 - 31
• EU, SAM, APAC N Regional #2: November 5 - 7
• NA, MENA, OCE, APAC S Regional #3: November 12 - 14
• EU, SAM, APAC N Regional #3: November 19 - 21

Major: December 8 - 12

Transfer Window: December 13, 2021 - January 2, 2022

Winter Split

• NA, MENA, OCE, APAC S Regional #1: January 14 - 16
• EU, SAM, APAC N Regional #1: January 21 - 23
• NA, MENA, OCE, APAC S Regional #2: January 28 - 30
• EU, SAM, APAC N Regional #2: February 4 - 6
• NA, MENA, OCE, APAC S Regional #3: February 18 - 20
• EU, SAM, APAC N Regional #3: February 25 - 27

Major: March 24 - 27

Transfer Window: March 28 - April 17

Spring Split

NA, MENA, OCE, APAC S Regional #1: April 29 - May 1

EU, SAM, APAC N Regional #1: May 6 - 8

NA, MENA, OCE, APAC S Regional #2: May 13 - 15

EU, SAM, APAC N Regional #2: May 20 - 22

NA, MENA, OCE, APAC S Regional #3: May 27 - 29

EU, SAM, APAC N Regional #3: June 3 - 5

Major: June 30 - July 3

World Championship

• Wildcard: July 22 - 24
• Main Event: July 26 - 31

But wait, there’s more

Alongside that, there will also be new items coming to the Esports shop, along with both home and away decals for each team, which is pretty cool. That means you can represent whoever you support with two different looks depending on which team you’re on.

The whole broadcast is also being supported with a new method of broadcasting which should allow for a smoother feel. We really wanted to ask if this was anything to do with the leaked update to the engine of Rocket League itself, but didn’t get the chance to do so.
That’s basically everything you need to know about the new RLCS and World Championship, So all you need to do now is actually tune in. Well, that or get good enough so that you can compete there too.