If you haven’t been keeping track, back in mid-2019, Epic Games acquired Rocket League developer Psyonix. Shortly afterward, the pair released a statement hinting at the game coming off of Steam and landing on the Epic Games Store. This move angered gamers and fans alike back then, which caused the developer to issue out another statement that has now been proven to be a lie.
Way back on May 1st, 2019, Psyonix released a message via rocketleague.com alluding to how the game will one day be inaccessible to new players on Steam. However, after catching flak, the team edited the post on the same day and featured the following message:
“We are continuing to sell Rocket League on Steam, and have not announced plans to stop selling the game there. Rocket League remains available for new purchasers on Steam, and long-term plans will be announced in the future.”
Notice the wording “we are continuing to sell Rocket League on Steam, and have not announced plans to stop selling the game there.” With that in mind, the notice no longer stands true as of today as per the latest post on rocketleague.com:
“Rocket League will release on the Epic Games Store on PC the same time it goes free to play. This version of the game will be identical to the version found on other platforms, and will feature cross-platform play anywhere you play Rocket League, including between the Epic Games Store and Steam.
Once Rocket League goes free to play, anyone who already owns Rocket League on any platform (including Steam) will be able to play and enjoy the game with full support for future updates and features. However, the Steam version will no longer be available to download for new players.”
To clarify the situation, if you already “own” Rocket League on Steam, you can still access or play said title. Additionally, you can play with others even on the Epic Games Store via cross-play. However, where the lie comes in is that new players will not be able to access or download the game from Steam when Rocket League lands on the Epic Games Store for free.
One could argue and say that Psyonix isn’t removing the game from Steam, but at the same time, the team isn’t “selling” it to new players on said client which renders the May 1st notice to be untrue.
In the meantime, Rocket League is out now across PC via Steam, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. As of now, no word on when the free version of the game will come out on the Epic Games Store.
