Ever since its release in 2015, many have praised competitive Rocket League esports as being the next big thing for multiple reasons. Indeed, due to being free-to-play, very easy to understand and watch, it has esports written all over it. However, 6 years later, we’re still waiting for it to blow up. Read on as we dive into what exactly we’re waiting for in this episode of ‘State of the Community’!
Rocket League Esports – Looking At Some Numbers
Let’s dial things back all the way to 2019. As early as at this point in time, competitive Rocket League is thriving incredibly, with events reaching new peak viewers and pushing the prize pool. Take a look at some statistics across the years from 2017 to 2020 – before this past competitive season took place.
Specifically, the following are the top 7 Rocket League esports events according to peak viewers:
- Season 8 World Championship RLCS – 280,495 Peak Viewers (2019)_
- Season 9 Europe RLCS – 261,359 Peak Viewers (2020)
- RLCS Season X Fall: NA Major – 232,777 Peak Viewers (2020)
- RLCS Season X Winter EU Major – 225,386 Peak Viewers (2021)
- Season 3 World Championship RLCS – 206,570 Peak Viewers (2017)
- Season X Fall: European Major RLCS – 203,390 Peak Viewers (2020)
- RLCS Season 7 World Championship – 202,559 Peak Viewers (2019)
Unfortunately, as you can tell, only one out of the top 7 events have been registered in the past competitive season. Do note that such statistics are thanks to Esports Charts.
The question to ask is simple – why is that so?
Figuring Out Why – Perhaps the Change of Format?
One plausible cause is definitely the change in format which came about ever since Epic Games acquired Psyonix back in May 2019. Indeed, this is somewhat concerning for esports as Epic Games hasn’t proven itself to be too experienced in nurturing an esport as exemplified by the state of competitive Fortnite.
Anyway, what was this change?
Originally framed around league play, culminating in regional playoffs and world championships; that no longer stood. Instead, RLCS in its tenth season – ‘RLCS Season X’ would consist of one long event consisting of three splits in the fall, spring and winter.
Cut up into multiple regions, the season planned to end by determining a few competitors from each region. Specifically, the top 16 teams in the world would then compete at a $1,000,000 event! Do note, however, that such an awesome event did not take place this year due to health restrictions.
Let’s compare how the regional events’ viewership shifted from last year compared to this year. To do so, we’ll take a look at the two most popular regions: NA and Europe thanks to Esports Charts:
- RLCS Season X European Championship: 178,272 Peak Viewers, 109,415 Average Viewers
- RLCS Season 9: Europe: 261,359 Peak Viewers, 74,328 Average Viewers
Now let’s take a look at North America:
- RLCS Season X North American Championship: 192,523 Peak Viewers, 136,818 Average Viewers
- RLCS Season 9: North America: 173,536 Peak Viewers, 76, 865 Average Viewers
As you can see, we have two contrasting stories here. Indeed, while the European regional this year seemed to have worse viewership in terms of peak (by quite a bit), the NA event managed to maintain some slight improvement.
Rocket League Esports – Results Need Another Year
Bearing in mind the conflicting results, it’s quite possible to state that Rocket League is at a standstill as some regions are progressing while some aren’t.
However, of course, more time will be able to help us determine if this is only a one year fluke or whether Psyonix can turn this esport around.
Although there’s clearly nothing ‘wrong’ to say, the potential for rocket league esports remains in question. Beyond the change in format, perhaps the health restrictions hitting the globe may have hurt the esport. Specifically, Rocket League is one of those esports that failed to host any significant offline events unlike other esports.
In conclusion, we’ll be keeping a watchful eye over Rocket League to see whether or not the needle moves forwards or backwards.
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