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Rocket League free-to-play update removes PS Plus, NSO requirement

Free-to-play doesn't mean much when you have to pay for subscription services, so Rocket League is ensuring that PlayStation and Nintendo owners will not have to do that.

Ozzie Mejia

September 2, 2020 11:05 AM

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The team at Psyonix has grand plans for Rocket League's next update. The free-to-play update is the game's most ambitious one to date, removing the monetary barrier of entry and allowing everyone to jump in. But does "free-to-play" really mean "free-to-play?" After all, consoles have membership requirements, don't they? Psyonix further clarified on Tuesday that "free-to-play" does indeed mean "free-to-play" for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch owners, because online multiplayer will be fully playable without PlayStation Plus and Nintendo Switch Online subscriptions.

The news comes via a post to the Rocket League website. This makes Rocket League something of a rarity, because very few online multiplayer games can get around these membership requirements. Fortnite, another game from publisher Epic Games, is the most high-profile game that allows online play without the PlayStation/Nintendo subscriptions, but the list ends there. Xbox owners will not be joining this party. Rocket League will still require an Xbox Live Gold membership to play online.

Other items from today's Rocket League post include the streamlining of the Rocket Pass and competitive tournaments. The ranking system is also being totally overhauled and will now feature a new top rank called Supersonic Legend. Players can begin their quest to Supersonic Legend at Level 10, which is the new requirement to access Ranked play. New players will find New Driver Challenges to help acclimate them to the Rocket League world, as well as a new bot difficulty that falls under Rookie. And if you're looking for your friends, you'll notice that Rocket ID is being rebranded into Epic Friends. That's to remind you that this is, in fact, an Epic Games joint now.

The Rocket League free-to-play update is set to deploy later this month. Look for it to debut on the Epic Games Store as soon as it does.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?