It’s focusing on community first
Most major eSports games have a fairly simple way of getting the community to help fund the competitive scene. The developer comes up with some sort of system of in-game purchases, and a portion of those proceeds go toward the prizes at the world championships. The most successful example of this has to beDota 2‘s Compendiumswhich pushed The International 2016’s prize pool to nearly $21 million.
In September of 2016, Psyonix added acrate and keys systemtoRocket Leaguewith this exact intent. Crates contain a single, random cosmetic item. Players earn crates through gameplay, and they have to buy keys to open the crates. When people go through this process, some percentage of the transaction goes to funding the best players in the world at theRocket LeagueChampionship Series.
Now, nearly half a year into the practice, Psyonix is calling an audible on the breakdown of things.As announced on theRocket Leaguesite, community purchases are being revamped to better benefit the community rather than a tiny group of top players.
More than $2.5 million will be invested inRocket League‘s competitive play in 2017. Here’s the list of changes, as outlined by Psyonix:
The majority of these bullet points can be consolidated to “Rocket Leaguetournaments are going to happen at a lot more places this year.” This already started two weekends ago with a big PAX South presence, including aone-on-one tournament between 12 of the world’s best players.
The drawback to this ambitious restructuring is that there might not be as much money available for RLCS teams — the premier players who are at the top ofRocket League‘s eSports mountain. Psyonix is seemingly betting that expanding the game’s presence will benefit everyone else first, and those top players eventually as a result of increasing gross revenue from the crate system. It’s likely not a bad bet; it’ll probably just take a bit of time.
Rocket League eSports in 2017[Rocket League]
