High-octane ballsport Rocket League yesterday reduced cosmetic item prices, having started selling them at high prices with new systems replacing DLC and loot boxes in last week’s Blueprint Update. Our Matt said only yesterday that “Rocket League’s new Blueprints are too expensive, but still better than loot boxes” then a mere six hours later, Psyonix announced the price cuts. This is response to a solid week of complaints from players but the timing does make us look dead influential so yeah, yeah, you’re welcome, everyone.

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I knew from my first few hours playing Rocket League that it would become my most played game on Steam. It took me nearly a thousand hours to reach the coveted top rank of Grand Champion. It remains, in my eyes, the perfect competitive multiplayer experience: easy to get into, difficult to master, and far more focused on tactical decisions and reading your opponents than about who has the twitchiest reflexes or the highest APM.

Rocket League is, simply put, my jam.

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Last Wednesday, Rocket League did away with loot boxes. You’d think that would be cause for celebration, but developers Psyonix have replaced them with Blueprints that many players consider overpriced.

The short version is that yeah, they are, but it’s more important that this replaces an exploitative model that profits from obsessional gamblers doing themselves serious harm. For the longer version, we need to descend into the murky world of value propositions.

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Big changes are coming to car football today. Rocket League has replaced its lock and key lootbox system with an item shop and blueprints for items. The new system is still random, but takes away the risk that you’ll spend any actual money on an item you don’t want.

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Stranger Things might be in a post-season slump, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at games. You’ve got your Nancy and Steve popping into Dead By Daylight, and every bookstore and board game shop in town has those themed Dungeons & Dragons (& Demagorgons) starter kits lying about. Today, it’s Rocket League‘s turn to become haunted by the 80s, as Haunted Hallows arrive in car-footy land.

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After a false start on Christmas, when advent calendars appearing on supermarket shelves in September, everyone has finally remembered it’s Halloween season first. Rocket League has announced its latest Halloween event, this year crossing over with Stranger Things. Haunted Hallows will bring new cosmetic doodads inspired by the Netflix show’s mock-eighties world, including a pattern inspired by Hooper’s groovy shirt. It’ll also let us play carball in the spookzone of The Topsy-Tursvy (which I’m told is called “The Upside Down” in the original American release?). That will kick off on Monday.

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It’s a lively day in box news. In the one corner, we have Rocket League developers Psyonix laying out their plans to get rid of ’em. Crates will be replaced with “Blueprints” for specific cosmetics, which you can leave laying about your inventory until you forget about them or choose to cough up. In the other corner, we have Valve, changing how CS:GO loot crates work in France to make gambling regulation less likely, while preserving the addictive qualities that get gambling regulators concerned in the first place.

I know who I want to win. Maybe I’ll put money on it.

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Psyonix s blog has announced that they re taking paid for randomised loot boxes out of their soccar game (that looks like a typo, but it s an excellent pun), Rocket League. Soon, you ll know exactly what you re buying when you pony up for an unlock.

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Rapidly expanding industry monolith Epic Games have snapped up Psyonix, the studio behind esports car-football phenomenon Rocket League. In an official announcement, Psyonix have declared that they’re “joining the Epic family”, and the game will come to the Epic Games Store. In the short term, that means very little for players, but longer-term, they may eventually stop selling the game on Steam, although they do plan on continuing support for existing owners. Unsurprisingly, the Steam store page for the game is being flooded with negative reviews.

Update: Epic have expounded on their announcement. Speaking to USGamer, an Epic Games spokesperson said “We are continuing to sell Rocket League on Steam, and have not announced plans to stop selling the game there”, although a removal from sale on Steam isn’t ruled out either, following up with the maddeningly vague “long-term plans will be announced in the future”. See the original story below.

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Carballing sport ’em up Rocket League has disabled loot boxes which require keys to open for players in Belgium and the Netherlands. If you’re there, you won’t be able to open ’em, and that’s that. While many countries are still eyeing paid loot boxes with suspicion, forming committees and signing declarations but not taking much action, Belgium and the Netherlands are going after the types of loot boxes they consider illegal gambling. These aren’t blanket bans on all loot boxes but have hit digicrates in FIFA Ultimate Team, Overwatch, Counter-Strike: Global offensive, and more since the crackdown started in 2018.

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