Rocket League has set a new record for concurrent players across Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, with more than 550,000 drivers loading into Psyonix’s rocket-powered bumper title on March 25 to set a new high-count.
Psyonix’s vehicular soccer game first released in July 2015. Since then, the title has enjoyed a moderate level of popularity, while never hitting the peaks of other major gaming rivals like Fortnite, FIFA, or League of Legends.
That is, until now. With more and more people turning to gaming as the virus crisis continues around the world, titles like CSGO and LoL have been hitting brand-new heights. Now, RL has joined the record-breaking ranks.
Rocket League has never struggled for player interest. A year after launch, Pysonix’s release boasted around 30,000 average users. Since then, the football-cross-car title has only twice dipped below that high-water mark.
By March 25, however, the game had experienced around 1500% growth from the norm. Over 550k players — 551,072 to be exact, according to API stats website Tracker Network — were logged into the title across all platforms at one time.
This doesn’t, of course, mean all 550k drivers were actually cruising around one of RL’s many playlists. Some may have been idling in the menus, tweaking their cars, or getting a first look at Rocket Pass 6’s various rewards.
The majority of drivers were, of course, loaded into the title’s main three-v-three game mode. Around 170,000 had queued up for unranked gameplay. 54k others loaded 3v3 ranked lobbies, and 87k could be found in doubles ranked.
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It’s a major cause for celebration too, especially when you consider Rocket League is rapidly approaching its fifth birthday. Plenty of games don’t boast that kind of staying power, and the Psyonix devs were quick to appreciate the milestone.
“We almost got to 500k across platforms!” Corey Davis, senior vice president of Pysonix’s RL development, said on Twitter. His celebrations came after a post from Rod ‘Slasher’ Breslau pointed out the game’s 120,00 concurrents on Steam.
We almost got to 500k across platforms! pic.twitter.com/ArCPKJjx3Q
— Corey Davis (@mrcoreydavis) March 25, 2020
Rocket League doesn’t look like it’s slowing down either, whether or not the 550,000 players currently battling it out across Beckwith Park, Salty Shores, and Champions Field stick with it in a more long term capacity or not.
Psyonix just launched Season 14, and unveiled the Neo Tokyo-themed Rocket Pass 6. There were also big changes to blueprints, as well as the long-awaited Ignition Series — wherever you look, Rocket League is scoring goals.