Was Rocket League Always Free to Play? Find out now!

Now, it is one of the best free games available, but was Rocket League always free? Let’s take a look.

Was Rocket League Always Free?

Not always, no. Epic Games announced that Rocket League would become free to play during Summer 2020. They also introduced tournaments, challenges, and additional cross-platform progression and support.

This would mark the launch of Rocket League on the Epic Games launcher on PC, after previously only being available on Steam. After this change, Rocket League was no longer available for new purchases on the Steam store. However, Steam users from before free-to-play era users could still play their game through the Steam launcher and this version would still be receiving all new updates.

Epic also introduced free to play on Xbox, PlayStation and Switch, and this hugely increased the number of players being drawn to Rocket League.

When Did It Become Free to play?

Was Rocket League Always Free? From 19.99$ to free, Summer 2020

(Image Credit: Psyonix – Rocket League goes free-to-play, Summer 2020)

First released in July 2015, the car soccer masterpiece cost $19.99 on Steam, Xbox, PlayStation and Switch. Rocket League became free to play, and also cross-play enabled, in Summer 2020. Whilst switching to free to play has hugely benefited the active player base, it does come with a number of downsides.

The first is that this change has made it much easier for players to create new smurf accounts. Having no cost to make new accounts has filled the ranked playlists with higher level players. Many alternative accounts were made, carrying friends and making the ranked experience less enjoyable for everyone.

There has also been a clear focus on releasing new cosmetic items, and creating interesting season passes, in order for Epic to increase their revenue through in-game credit sales. Rocket League credits, the new in-game currency, can be used in the Item Shop to get some drip.

Moreover, trading was removed in late 2023. Players are now forced to spend money if they want any new cosmetics, potentially harming the younger demographic.

Those that already purchased the game before the switch are given “Legacy Status”, including early releases and cosmetic exclusives.

Read next: Rocket League Pro Settings: This Is What The Pros Are Doing
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Gus

to be honest, its really bad that the epic games bought rocket league and you cant play as you played in the past. 1st, you dont get est. 20xx titles anymore so if you have this your account is rare, 2nd, you dont have custom pfp if you play from epic games and it kinda sucks, 3rd epic games is destroying the game and its kinda sad and the last one expext only from rocket league, epic games is buying many games and steam has to take those games offsale and you lose benefits from it. I really hate Epic about this and this time and always about this situation, I will stand with steam. If you also dont know you get scammed if you buy an disk because it just downloads the same game and it gets updated like the other free one you can download online and free. The only thing may works is collector edition and those disk with benefits with the may work, Im not really sure about this one but someone who tried it , he can confirm if its working or not.