IGN is on the ground in Paris all weekend, capturing all of the breaking news at the Rocket League Championship Series Paris Major. Catch the Semifinals and Finals on IGN’s YouTube channel.
When Rocket League first came out 11 years ago, it appeared on the surface to be a relatively simple proposition: players face off in a soccer-like arena and battle to get a giant ball into a net. But, more than a decade later, the game has amassed a huge following and a distinct spot in the world of competitive Esports.
That growth culminates this weekend in the Rocket League Championship Series Paris Major – the game’s biggest-ever in-person tournament where 25 thousand fans are gathering to see which one of 16 teams takes home the biggest share of a $350 thousand prize pot.
I spoke to the team behind Rocket League about how the game is still growing, why they consider it to have an “infinite” skill ceiling, and the massive tech behind next-generation broadcast.
“The vast majority of everything you will see in broadcast, even in-arena triggering of lights, the light panels on the floor, [the in-game and arena cameras],is all being used by Unreal Engine,” says Cliff Shoemaker, Competitive Programming Director at Epic Games. “I think the real-time rendering of everything opens up a lot of doors. It’s even in the hype chamber. We have so many options that we can use in that space, [to] create stuff that maybe we can’t create in-game in UE3.”
Beyond Unreal Engine, the team at Epic brings their own server team to the Paris Major to make sure the competition remains fair by guaranteeing zero lag. The system feeds the production team real-time data every two seconds to ensure that each team experiences the exact same ping.
Mauricio Longoni, Senior Director of Game Publishing for Rocket League, says events like the Paris Major underscore why Rocket League is growing event after being out for so long.
“We call [Rocket League] its own sport,” Longoni says. “It’s not a simulation of soccer. It’s not a simulation of volleyball. It’s its own thing. So as a sport, that fan base keeps growing and more people play and they start training and getting better. RLCS is a big component of that.
“The competitiveness of Rocket League is one of the strongest pillars and we keep investing in that. RLCS is certainly a big part of that. Having these big celebration moments, having a place for players to grow and get better [is] a big component.”
Globally, RLCS registrations are growing at an average of over 24% per year. Longoni says the game’s low barrier to entry (it’s free to play) and relatively simple mechanics are a big reason why.
“It’s simple, but not simplistic,” Logoni says. You get into a car, you run around, you hit the ball and try to hit a goal. The ceiling is infinite because it’s physics-based and it’s player ability-based. Speaking a little bit about the future, I think there’s always an opportunity for us to provide better ways for players to improve their skills. You can keep playing online [to] get better, but can we help players get better [by] giving them more ways to train. That’s on our mind.”
Beyond the large-scale competitions like the Paris Major, the team at Epic is looking at ways to bring Rocket League into the future. To the team, partnerships are a key pillar of that evolution. Throughout its history, Rocket League has teamed up with everyone from WWE to LEGO to Jurassic Park. On the heels of the recently-announced Star Wars Fortnite islands, Shoemaker said they are open to more collaborations as long as they served the game’s player base.
“I think there’s excitement on my level to emulate a lot of what they’ve created [in Fortnite],” Shoemaker says. “I think it’s possible because of the platform they have built and the user-generated content that’s so accessible on that platform. [So] yes, 100% it’s something the Rocket League audience deserves to have.”
“Rocket League has a history of partnerships,” Logoni says. “We’ve had Fast and Furious cars in the game. We have real brand cars in the game. In terms of looking forward, 100% we want to [continue] our partnerships and bring in new partners to really bring what the players in the community want to see in the game. We are always on the lookout for that.”
Michael Peyton is the Senior Editorial Director of Events & Entertainment at IGN, leading entertainment content and coverage of tentpole events including IGN Live, San Diego Comic Con, gamescom, and IGN Fan Fest. He’s spent 20 years working in the games and entertainment industry, and his adventures have taken him everywhere from the Oscars to Japan to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Follow him on Bluesky @MichaelPeyton
