Esports
Rocket League esports operations manager Josh Watson speaks to us about the past, present and future of competitive Rocket League – and the grand plans to make it the biggest sport in the world.
The full-time whistle has just been blown on the biggest and most spectacular season of the Rocket League Championship Series. Not only will the epic grand final be repeated and rewatched for many months to come, but the legacy of the entire tournament will live on through all the major stories and standout moments that defined the weekend. For Psyonix it must feel wonderful: the culmination of months of planning and build up delivered something special. So, is this the mark of competitive Rocket League at its most successful?
The definition of success for us is when Rocket League is the biggest sport in the world
So says Josh Watson, the esports operations manager for Rocket League. Since moving on from his community management role at Psyonix at the end of 2015, Josh has played a vital part in developing Rocket League esports over the last two and a half years. For him, taking a game that exploded in popularity – thanks in large part to its inclusion as a free download for PlayStation Plus members – and hosting its competitive scene’s championship finals at the Copper Box Arena in London, right in the midst of the Olympic Park, has been quite the journey.
“It's incredible. We've been trying to come to London for some time. You never know when you come to a new city, but it's been great. We've done one more in Europe, so we have some experience with the overseas crowd, but London has just blown us away. They're so into it, we've seen fans completely decked out in amazing gear and they're here to cheer on their favourite teams.”
It certainly was a lively audience. By the third day of the tournament, the crowd had chants for each player that they could break into whenever a goal was scored; most of them spent the finals on their feet, and people were even playing along with adverts during game breaks. It was an infectious atmosphere and that passionate fan base just shows how the game has grown in popularity over the last 24 months. That growth made Psyonix think bigger for Season 5.
“There are a lot of factors when you go into picking a venue for an event like this. One of the things is that we were maxing out and capping out where we could play in theatres. They don't really make theatres that keep getting bigger in length, you know? So, we had an incredible show at the MGM last year and that's one of the biggest theatres, so one of the next logical steps is to move into something that can hold a little more capacity.”
It’s not just the size of the venue that’s changed, but also the style. In the Copper Box Arena the audience completely surrounds the players. Eyes are focused in on them from all sides, and the noise reverberates from all directions. It’s an entirely new environment for the pros to get to grips with, and it changes the whole atmosphere of the tournament.
“Also one of the added benefits is this gives the show a completely new look,” adds Watson. “It really brings a little bit of an X-factor, because you don't know what it's like when the players are going to be sitting and there are people looking everywhere. They're above you, they're around you, and that's a whole new element that I think makes it really exciting to watch.”
“There's nothing better than coming to one of these event and seeing fathers, mothers, whole families out here cheering on their favourite teams. I think those are lasting experiences that the esports world really can provide.”
Looking in the rear view mirror
But before we get too carried away with the now, let’s jump back a bit to the origins of Rocket League’s esports ambitions. The days of community-run competitions, when the stars of the game were just establishing themselves, and well-known tournament organisers took the game for a test drive to see just how viable it could be. In amongst all this there was a match featuring the likes of Cameron ‘Kronovi’ Bills, Randy ‘Gibbs’ Gibbons and Jayson ‘Fireburner’ Nunez that showed all the potential for Rocket League’s competitive future: Cosmic Aftershock vs. Kings of Urban.
“I think the moment for me, personally, when I knew the game was something incredible, was an old MLG match. I watched Kyle Masc hit a buzzer beater after something like 10 seconds past zero and I remember we were watching it in the office and we just lit up. We're screaming, we're running around, couldn't believe what we were seeing! That moment was one of those moments where we all just went: 'this is something incredible.'”
That match is still a joy to watch to this day. Not only is it a showcase of the incredible technical skill that some of these players built their reputations on, but it also has the drama of unfathomable comebacks and last minute goals. This was obviously early days, but if there were flaws at this time, it’s clearly in the game’s presentation: the camera an unwieldy beast that had to be contended with to best show off the game. This is a challenge Psyonix have had to overcome.
“I think early on we were looking to traditional sports to try to find some cues as to how we could do this correctly. One of the things we recognised is that there aren't a lot of traditional sports that have the same kind of three-dimensional depth as well as non-stop movement.”
So, it went over to the development team to put together the director camera and other tweaks to the viewing experience so that you never miss another ridiculous ceiling shot again. That’s now hard coded into the game, giving everyone from Psyonix to the smallest community tournament organiser the possibility of hosting a high quality broadcast.
The long road ahead
But Psyonix don’t intend to stop there, as they look to continue to expand and develop the game over time. And that brings us to the future of Rocket League esports, and the plans Psyonix have to support the game in the months and years ahead to ensure the esports scene continues to thrive.
“We have players all over the world, and while I think we've done a good job of including all our players from over Europe, America and OCE, there are other developing regions that are very interesting to the league. We're going to keep looking at that. Ideally, we'd like to see worldwide Rocket League,” says Josh.
“We're also going to keep focusing on the stability of the league and making sure players have everything that they need to be successful so that they can focus on Rocket League specifically and not have to worry about what happens next. Those are really big initiatives and I'm sure we'll have some other things coming too.”
In terms of league stability, one idea a lot of pro players are very interested in seeing is in-game items that represent themselves and the organisations they play for. We’ve seen similar schemes already in the likes of Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch, which offer a share of the revenue from these items to teams and players, while also giving orgs more opportunities for promotions. Could something similar be implemented in Rocket League?
“Sure, yeah. It's becoming more and more commonplace in esports so it's certainly something that we're considering. One thing that we want to make sure we do is any time we implement any sort of system like this, we're doing it properly and it's really beneficial to all parties involved and not just implementing it for the sake of it.”
The desire for elements such as this are a testament to the game’s success, but it seems like we’re still a long way from “the biggest sport in the world”. It’s clearly an ambitious goal, but that’s not to say that Rocket League couldn’t hit those heady heights. Its simplicity to follow, family-friendly nature and incredibly high skill ceiling could maintain a competitive scene for years to come. However, how do Psyonix go about measuring the game’s success?
“There's no one single factor. We've got to look at all of those different things: viewerbase, player base, engagement we're getting socially. All of those things are important. We're going to keep working until fathers are teaching their kids Rocket League. I think for us, we want to make this a long-lasting part of esports, the game itself transcends generations. Honestly, that would be amazing.”
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