• News

Rocket League to offer Rocket Pass next month

Once Psyonix witnessed Epic come up with a new way to suck money out of customers, they had to get in on the action.

Chris Jarrard

August 31, 2018 10:55 AM

1

Ever since the advent of the magical horse armor, game publishers have been refining their approach to maximizing their income from the games they produce. In the current video game landscape, free to play games are all the rage and players go along with the micro-transactions and soft paywalls in return for free initial access. This model has made Fortnite the most popular game on earth and the industry has taken notice. Months after Epic first offered a Battle Pass for Fortnite, the folks over at Psyonix have joined in on the fun and have announced that Rocket League is getting a Rocket Pass that is available from September 6 through November 26.

For those unfamiliar with these passes, the customer pays a flat fee upfront (usually ten dollars) and this grants access to a new pool of cosmetic items that can be unlocked by grinding in game during the pass period. If the buyer is unable to grind for the items, they can pay additional money to unlock said items quickly. Fortnite’s Battle Pass was incredibly successful and has returned multiple times since its inception. The game’s progression system is tied to cosmetics and it is free to play, so it makes sense for Epic.

Rocket League is not a free game and has a long history of letting players pay money to gamble for cosmetics (this setup has been a license to print money for developer Psyonix). The whole thing feels a bit more slimy when not attached to a F2P game. PUBG was the first major full-priced game to offer a similar pass (PUBG’s was called an Event Pass), but it obviously wasn’t going to be the last.

Psyonix estimates that player will be able to earn the majority of the available Rocket Pass rewards during the limited time period if they invest around 100 hours into the game. As always, if you feel like 100 hours is too much, you can also pay more to get those items your already paid once to get a chance at. The Rocket Pass will offers lots of new explosions, paint jobs, toppers, wheels, and more.

Chris Jarrard

Contributing Tech Editor

Chris Jarrard likes playing games, crankin' tunes, and looking for fights on obscure online message boards. He understands that breakfast food is the only true food. Don't @ him.