You may have seen a flood of highlight reels and slow motion GIFs of Rocket League cars smashing into each other and scoring unbelievable goals lately. There’s a reason for that. Rocket League is insanely fun to watch and play.
The world of eSports is currently on the rise and there are plenty of popular titles out there for gamers to watch, but the general public still seems a bit apathetic about the whole scene. As someone who just recently got his hands and eyes on Rocket League I can assure you I’ve never been so entertained in all my life. No wonder this beast has such a following. I knew the game was popular, but I had somehow avoided seeing most of its best moments until now.
The best part of Rocket League, at least from an outsider perspective, is that it’s easy to understand and follow. It’s rocket powered cars playing soccer, the most popular sport in the world. Cars fly through the air and try to knock a huge glowing ball into a goal. It’s not hard to put together. I’ve witnessed people who claim to despise the thought of watching gaming sit with bated breath as my rocket cars careen out of control. It’s hard to not get invested, even for someone without a gaming background. Rocket League does a great job of getting players and viewers hyped over the smallest things. Even missed shots are a guaranteed “Did you see that?” moment.
I’ll admit that I get a bit lost after watching professionals play through their thousandth MOBA match, and I have a pretty good grasp on what’s supposed to be happening. I can only imagine what someone new to the world of eSports is thinking in this regard. And you may say, “But those games are still really popular, despite the high learning curve,” and you wouldn’t be wrong. Every game and scene has it’s fans. It just seems that a lot of people could and should get behind Rocket League as a big time eSport. It’s got the legs and the simplistic core gameplay to being in plenty of new fans.
Not only is it fun to watch, Rocket League is one of those games that’s incredibly simple to get the hang of, but difficult to master. There are lots of times you’ll find yourself turning to your friend to say, “Did you know you could do that?” with a stupid grin playing across your face. It’s one of the most satisfying titles I’ve played in recent memory. Even as a scrub who can hardly score a goal, I still feel the like I’ve just won the match by pulling off a perfectly executed block or flip. Even in defeat all I can think of is how I want to improve my stats on the next go around.
So here we have a game that’s easy to pick up, entertaining as all get out, and quickly amassing a rabid fan base. Do you need much else to make it to the top of the eSports world? I hope not, because I want to see even more Rocket League in the future.
If you haven’t given the game chance yet, I think it’s time you did.
Comments
12 responses to “Rocket League Needs To Be The Next Big eSport”
It’s died down on Twitch since the release. I remember when it was getting 150k viewers now it sits around 3k.
Nidhogg needs to be the next big esport!
I think rocket league as an esport benefits from being one of the most like a traditional sport.
It does, but it killed me a little inside seeing how crazy good people are with the aerial stuff.
That and how a lot of those same people whinge like little bitches because people aren’t playing how they think they should. Ball followers and the like. He blew me up. It’s in the game mechanics and he did something to me using them and now I’m angry!
I’ll just potter about on the ground trying to knock it around and put it in the back of the net.
5 goals and an Epic Save in a 6-0 win, on a team with 2 Semi-Pro’s vs a Semi-pro, Pro, and a Vet (not that the ranks mean much) was my crowning achievement and it happened just last night. Took a photo and everything. Such a good game.
I’m sitting in the world’s most boring meeting reading Kotaku, so thought I’d just post a comment here to say, “I agree.”
Rocket League FTW.
Join the ‘Rocket League Australia’ steam group if you’re looking for people team up with or match up against. Almost at 200 members on the steam group and our Teamspeak usually has around 20 people online during peak hours and heaps more if we’re running a tourney.
Thanks for the heads up, just joined. I’m a PS4 player, but I understand they’re working on some mechanism to allow PC/PS4 players to do a private match (rather than server-side matchmaking now). Might be a good outlet to find some local players.
I will, of course, get this on Steam once it gets caught-up in an inevitable Steam Sale. 😛 I philosophically can’t bring myself to pay RRP. 😀
Yeah I’ve also heard of this and we’re more than happy to have some PS4 players join in the mix as there is a huge player-base on the PS4. Until then jump on the teamspeak (link on the group page) and come chat shop with some of the fellas.
As an avid Esports watcher, I look forward to the day when an esport game isn’t a combat game.
Coming soon to a venue near you:
International Goat Simulator Championships!
Sign me up!
1) lag
2) custom goal celebrations performed by the cars