Roll back the clock to 2015. The Battle Royale genre is merely a niche mod on DayZ. There are rumours that Activision Blizzard is planning a grand esports league based in cities around the world. On PlayStation, a new game is advertised for free download.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From Psyonix,\u00a0a studio primarily known for being adept with vehicle physics in the Unreal Engine and being the creators of Super Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars comes Rocket League. Featuring cars with only a cursory idea of how to hit the ball anywhere above the ground with plenty of camera shake to go around, Rocket League hit the PS Store.<\/span><\/p>\n

Five years later, Rocket League has grown to be a solid esport with nine competitive seasons under its belt. Psyonix was acquired by Epic Games and players are pushing off the literal glass ceiling of the game’s arena. But everything hasn’t been positive. This summer, 13 teams penned a letter to Psyonix<\/a> asking for increased communication and better monetization paths. Major organisations like Complexity Gaming and Cloud9 left the scene.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So Psyonix switched things up. A new format was created. Say goodbye to league play and hello to a string of majors throughout the year leading to one world champion. Then the game was announced to be going Free to Play, the first time the $20 (\u00a315.64) price tag was removed from those early days on the PS Store.<\/span><\/p>\n