Current and former Epic Games devs speak out amid Rocket League disaster
Current and former Epic Games and Psyonix employees have spoken out as Rocket League fans are livid at a lack of communication.
06th Dec 2023 17:39
Epic Games | Psyonix
Current and former Epic Games devs speak out amid Rocket League disaster
Current and former Epic Games and Psyonix employees have spoken out as Rocket League fans are livid at a lack of communication.
06th Dec 2023 17:39
Epic Games | Psyonix
Epic Games might be in most people's good books with the success of OG Fortnite and the news that the original battle royale mode will return in 2024, the game publisher is in hot water elsewhere, with Rocket League fans being less than impressed with the treatment of the title.
So much so that Rocket League fans have recently claimed that the developers are "disconnected" from the title and the community and even prepared to open a class action amid the removal of player-to-player trading which required a fee to use.
But after Fortnite's Rocket Racing was finally announced, Rocket League has been left in the dark, and now current and former Epic Games employees are speaking out about the state of the beloved soccer title.
Rocket League players lash out at devs over Season 13 communication
Rocket League Season 13 appears to be the tip of the iceberg for long-time fans of the game, as another wave of seemingly "mid" updates have arrived, and were only marketed a mere few hours before its release; In comparison, Rocket Racing has been teased and marketed for weeks.
24 hours before Rocket League Season 13 was set to start, Epic had been silent on the matter, and it took a singular developer to tweet that the Season is still coming and there will be Ranked Rewards.
"Yes. Season 13 starts December 6, and S12 Comp Rewards are goal explosions," Devin Connors said on Twitter, taking the bullet for Epic and finally relaying anything to the fan base.
Since, Rocket League fans have been even more critical about their treatment, with esteemed content creator "Jonsandman" saying, "Many of the devs from Psyonix who made Rocket League so incredible have been working the past few years on Rocket Racing (which is in the Fortnite universe) and that is the reason why we have gotten close to 0 updates on the game we all know love?"
"AND THE SEASON ENDS TOMORROW AND THEY HAVEN'T COMMUNICATED ANYTHING ABOUT NEXT SEASON OR THE REWARDS!?!?!? HOW!?" he added.
Current and ex-Rocket League devs speak out amid controversy
The previously mentioned and heavily respected Devin Connors (Senior Community Manager) was the first to speak out, taking to Twitter to admit the skeleton crew left at Psyonix has simply been spread too thin alongside their work on Rocket Racing.
"We're not trying to hide S12 rewards, we just didn't have the capacity to do our normal video about rewards this season with everything else going on," he said.
"[We are] working on making sure we don't miss this beat for S13 rewards and beyond in the future," Connors added.
A similar sentiment was also echoed by ex-Rocket League esports employee "Juliventure", who left the company two months ago.
"Almost all of the marketing, PR, and community were let go (1-2 people left for each). Plus the people handling RL socials, the lawyer handling a lot of RL, folks from video and creative too. People don't realize how badly the place was ripped apart. Dev side is spread thin across projects too," she said on Twitter.
"Pair that with Epic's bizarre comms policy which, if I had to guess what it is, would be "communicate nothing until there is an official date attached to it" and you get... Well, basically what's happening rn. It's sad for both the community & the devs IMO," Juliventure added.
Rocket League has now just communicated the Season 13 content, a mere two hours before the update goes live.
Still, Rocket League fans will want to see a similar level of communication to what Rocket Racing is getting, and with there still being very little info on RLCS in an off-season which is already four months deep, Epic Games' hot water might not be simmering any time soon.
About The Author
Jack Marsh
Jack is an Esports Journalist at GGRecon. Graduating from the University of Chester, with a BA Honours degree in Journalism, Jack is an avid esports enthusiast and specialises in Rocket League, Call of Duty, VALORANT, and trending gaming news.
