Rocket League Video Game Review

Video game developer Psyonix recently announced the first Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) Major for the upcoming 2025 season. For the first time ever, the Major is set to take place in Birmingham, England. Previous RLCS Majors have taken place in the UK twice — once in 2022 and another in 2024.

Aside from announcing its first Major for the 2025 calendar, RLCS also revealed that its second Major will take place in June 2025, with the Rocket League World Championship rounding out the season in September. Psyonix also recently unveiled a new format for the 2025 season, including an increased prize pool to $5 million, the introduction of a one-versus-one format competition, and an expansion, seeing the number of teams for the World Championship increase to 20.

Even as the Rocket League esports scene faces scrutiny from shareholders and fans on its viability and sustainability, these recent moves are a good step in the right direction for fans, players, and organizations in the game's esports community. Below, we'll discuss why car enthusiasts may find Rocket League interesting:

What is Rocket League?

Rocket League is a vehicular soccer game combining the high-octane, engine-revving excitement of RC cars with physics-based soccer. Released in 2015, the game quickly carved its own niche in the video game market, deemed one of the greatest video games ever made by video game journalists and magazines. Rocket League also has an established esports scene with professional gamers competing in leagues like ESL, Major League Gaming, and the official Rocket League Championship Series mentioned above.

For gamers who only want the cars without any of Rocket League's soccer aspects, Psyonix partnered with co-Epic Games title Fortnite in 2023 to release Rocket Racing — a more standard twelve-player racing game featuring cars (or Battle-Cars) from the Rocket League game. The game can be accessed directly from the Fortnite launcher, but cars unlocked or purchased from Rocket Racing can be used in the Rocket League game. While Epic Games has stopped themed updates for the spin-off game in October 2024, support for Rocket Racing is still expected to continue alongside other spin-offs like LEGO Fortnite.

Rocket League Esports

Thanks to the high-adrenaline and straightforward nature of Rocket League's "cars playing soccer in an arena" concept, the game makes for a straightforward esports title that depends mostly on player strategy, skills, and teamwork rather than randomized events and circumstances. The RLCS has been held in major cities around the world, including regions like Europe, South America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East.

Globally known esports organizations like G2 Esports (best known for its Counter-Strike and Valorant rosters), and Brazilian org FURIA Esports (also active in Counter-Strike, Valorant, and League of Legends) have well-loved Rocket League rosters. G2 won first place in a RLCS 2021-22 Winter regional event in 2022, and FURIA similarly bagged its win for the Spring event in the same season.

The active Rocket League esports scene allows fans to not only attend events and stream tournaments on the Internet. Avid Rocket League fans also enjoy betting on their favorite teams and players. Crypto betting platform Thunderpick offers Rocket League betting lines and odds for various official Rocket League events, including regional RLCS events and the Championship Series. Much like traditional soccer betting, Rocket League odds include the straightforward Match Winner and Total Goals Over/Under, as well as Correct Score for more confident bettors.

Aside from similarities in betting, traditional sports bodies have also taken an interest in Rocket League's popularity. Recently, legendary soccer league FIFA announced it was partnering with Epic Games to develop a new international esports competition built around Rocket League. FIFA's Esports division will invite 16 countries to participate in Rocket League's inaugural FIFAe World Cup. The 2023 Rocket League World Championship series peaked at 468,000 and generated more than 9.5 million hours of watch time — numbers that FIFA is certainly interested in to reach wider, younger audiences.

Why Car Enthusiasts May Like Rocket League

Aside from besting other teams and opponents in the ridiculously high-octane soccer matches, part of the allure of Rocket League is its vehicle customizations. Vehicle bodies, also known as Battle-Cars in-game, are how players can personalize and customize their RL experience. Throughout the years, various brand and intellectual property partnerships have seen exciting Battle-Cars released in-game.

For example, one of the DLCs released in 2015 featured the DeLorean Time Machine. While it can't hover like the car in the films, the Battle-Car is a direct adaptation of the iconic DeLorean sportscar popularized by the 1985 blockbuster film and its sequels. You can check out our previous book review covering the life and career of John Z. DeLorean and the build-up to the 1981 launch of the DeLorean car.

Meanwhile, for car enthusiasts more excited about modern smart and autonomous cars, Rocket League recently featured the notorious Tesla Cybertruck as a playable Battle-Car skin. The crossover happened alongside Tesla's arrival at a fellow Epic Games title, Fortnite. The brand partnership is only one of a series of direct collaborations with car manufacturers, including Ford, McLaren, and BMW.

Previously, Rocket League has also partnered with major racing leagues like NASCAR and Formula 1 to help bring the respective motorsports to younger audiences.

If you're interested in more car games, you can check out our review of open-world racing game Forza 4.