Our next update — the Esports Shop Update — is just over the horizon, with a bunch of new content we're excited to bring to Rocket League coming right along with it! Expected to go live on April 16 (pending first-party certification), this new update will not only include its namesake, the Esports Shop, but also Rocket Pass 3, kicking off one day after that on April 17.


You'll now be able to show off your team pride for your favorite esport squads competing in Rocket League Esports. The Esports Shop will open for business on April 16. Of course, there's still a lot more to share about the Esports Shop, but we'll reveal everything there is to know—including its items, look, and more next week.


Rocket Pass 3 will debut soon with a Challenge System! Get ready to climb your way to the Pro Tiers. Look for an in-depth look at Rocket Pass 3 and the new Challenge System very soon.


We've added a new Replay FX system that content creators should enjoy. With this new toolset, you'll be able to give your replays the full "photo mode" treatment by changing the depth of field, altering backgrounds, adding green screen effects, color adjustment, and more post-processing effects. Please note that Replay FX is still in a beta phase, but the entire control suite will be available when the update goes live.

Also coming in this update: HDR support for PS4, PS4 Pro, and Xbox One S.

Check out the quick bullet points below to see what to expect from the Esports Shop Update:

• Esports Shop
  
• Rocket Pass 3 with Challenges (April 17)
  
• Replay FX
  
• HDR Support
  
• Monstercat Flags
  
• … and more!

We're excited to bring this new content to Rocket League on April 16. Stay tuned to the blog next week when we'll be taking a deep dive into the Esports Shop, Rocket Pass 3, and Challenges.

The pros of Rocket League are almost ready to hit the field for Season 7 of the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS)! That means that League Play begins on April 6, but the best of the best just didn't get there overnight. If you want to learn to play like the pros, you're going to have to put in the time on the practice field.

Since this is the first training pack roundup of 2019, this edition of Community Spotlight focuses on improving play no matter your rank. Some players may be working on the consistency of air dribbles, while newcomers are still working on getting off the ground. Whether you're just starting out in Bronze or climbing that ladder to Grand Champ, you'll find a Training Pack to improve your game and impress your opponents. Here are this month's Custom Training Packs.




Think you've created the next great Custom Training Pack? Let us know by sharing it on Discord, Reddit, and Twitter. We go through fan-submitted Training Packs each month, and could even choose yours in our next Community Spotlight!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44aiCQSPoxo
The MLB Fan Pack is coming to Rocket League just in time for Opening Day! On March 25, gear up and rep your favorite Major League Baseball team with this new Premium Licensed DLC. Celebrate the 2019 MLB Season in style.

Customize your Battle-Car with baseball cap Toppers, Flags, and Player Banners for all 30 MLB teams. Plus, the DLC comes with a Baseball Rocket Boost, and an MLB-branded Flag and Player Banner for game time.

Check out the team gear in the MLB Fan Pack trailer above, plus screenshots of the in-game items at the landing page. Let us know what you think on Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter.

The MLB Fan Pack will be available on all platforms in all regions for $2.99 USD (or regional equivalent). So, get ready to hit that pitch and score for the home team!

Get ready to earn twice the XP and have twice the chance of earning Painted in-game items in Rocket League! As the headline says, starting March 7, you'll be able to take advantage of a 2XP and a Double Painted Weekend!

During this special event, you can earn double the amount of base experience in all Casual, Competitive, and Extra Mode Playlist Matches via the “+100% Special Event” XP bonus. In addition to that bonus, all Crates will also have double the chance of containing Painted items. That means if you have any Crates in your inventory that you haven’t opened yet, this weekend will be a great time to do it!

Also of note is that Rocket Pass 2 ends on March 18, so the weekend event will be a great opportunity to take advantage of the 2XP to Tier-up even faster to get to the Pro Tiers.

The Double Painted item increase only applies to Crates and not Golden Items from in-game events. This is because Golden Items already have increased odds of containing Painted items. Be sure to check out the drop rates for crates [/b]here[/b]. Here are the start and end times for the Double XP / Doubled Painted Item Weekend:

• Start time: Thursday, March 7 at 2:00 p.m. PST / 10:00 p.m. UTC
  
• End time: Monday, March 11 at 10:00 a.m. PDT / 5:00 p.m. UTC

We hope you enjoy this Double XP and Double Painted Item Weekend. As always, good luck and have fun!

General

• Adjusted audio balance, fader system, and HDR audio priority
  
• Adjusted ‘Rocket Forge II’ Special Edition Wheels so they won’t clip through some Car Bodies anymore
• Fixed a bug that affected the accent color on the ‘Biomass’ Decal
• Adjusted diagonal kickoff locations on Champions Field to their original locations
  
• Hoops: Removed extra rim on Blue team hoop while spectating
  
• Steam Workshop maps affected by the Friends Update should no longer load to a black screen
  
• Adjusted ‘Asik’ Special Edition’s level of detail when viewing in the lobby
  
• Fixed a bug preventing some players from seeing the ‘View Player Profile’ option when selecting a player in the ‘Recent Players’ tab
  
• Fixed an issue causing deleted friends to reappear after adding a platform friend through RocketID
  
• On ‘Wasteland (Night)’, fixed a bug causing cars to respawn in the middle of the arena after a demolition
  
• [Xbox One] Returning from suspended mode will not longer affect party invites or in-game chat
  

• We continue to work on enabling same-platform Party invitations for players not on your Friends List
  
• Dunk House: In Free Play, the Ball does not lift right after the user moves out of the kick-off position like it does in offline or online matches.
  
• Friends List notifications will not appear while viewing Replays
  
• An incorrect error message may appear if you try to change your Rocket ID if PsyNet is down
  

We're trying something new with our Community Spotlight series. The Rocket League community is full of talented people with a serious passion for the game. Like the title "Community Spotlight" suggests, we would like to use this series to shine a light on some of those unique individuals. Don't worry, we know many of our fans look forward to our Training Pack collections, and those will return very soon. But this month, enjoy our first new kind of Community Spotlight featuring Rudeism.

Think back to your first successful aerial goal in Rocket League. After all the trial and error—all the hours just trying to make contact with the ball—you finally launch your Battle-Car in the air and strike the ball with just enough power and placement to tuck it into the net. Now imagine trying an aerial goal, but somebody removed the controller from your hands and replaced it with a plastic guitar that's usually reserved for rhythm-based music games. That’s what a streamer who goes by the name of "Rudeism" has turned into his passion.

Rudeism, whose real name is Dylan Beck, tries to play games with controllers that virtually nobody would prefer over a standard gamepad. He fell in love with Rocket League close to the game’s launch in 2015. That’s around the same time he started streaming, but back then, he relied on a standard controller. Now, Rudeism has carved his niche within the streaming community by gaming with ridiculous controllers. Rocket League has always been one of his streaming mainstays, but instead of grabbing the sticks, he now reaches for a guitar.

"My background before I started streaming was in competitive Guitar Hero," Rudeism said. "I used to play competitively for a few years long before Rocket League or even Twitch was a thing. I remember streaming one day. I was playing Rocket League just casually. One of my friends joked that I should play with a Guitar Hero Guitar, just for a laugh. And I just thought, 'that’s a bloody stupid idea. Why would anyone want to do that?' Then we ended up sitting down and figuring it out, like, 'OK, if you wanted to do it, this is how you would do it.'"

The next logical question is "how?" A guitar doesn’t have an analog stick or triggers, so how would one even begin to make a Battle-Car move? That’s something that Rudeism had to figure out before even taking the field. The whammy bar handles accelerating and reversing, flicking the strum bar up or down turns the car right or left, and the buttons on the neck act as the typical face buttons on a controller for things like jumping, boosting, and air rolling.

After figuring out the buttons, Rudeism had to basically relearn the game that he had already spent hundreds of hours playing. Now, he’s spent roughly 300 hours playing with a guitar, and says he prefers it to a controller.

"It’s funny. You think it would be a natural disadvantage to use the guitar and in a lot of cases it is, but it's interesting," Rudeism said. "You learn things, and you find out that some things are easier to do with a guitar than with a standard controller, like half-flipping. Half-flipping is super easy to do with a guitar. To give you a comparison, my highest rank with a controller is Platinum 1, and my highest rank with a guitar is Platinum 2/ nearly Platinum 3. So, I’m getting better at it. I'd love to hit diamond."



The New Zealand-based streamer works as a game developer by day, but is constantly trying to come up with new ways to play games differently. Playing Rocket League with a guitar is a small sample of what he’s attempted. He’s tried Tekken 7 with boxing gloves, Dark Souls with a dance pad, and Overwatch with Nerf guns. If he can’t find a strange controller, he makes his own. He's managed to transform typical household items into functional controllers like a cooking pan, a broom, and even a deer skull. He’s even experimented with food.

Rudeism doesn’t know how well a controller is going to work until he’s live on stream. He makes sure the buttons are properly mapped and then learns how to use his creations live on Twitch. According to him, learning on the fly is part of the entertainment for his audience. Not all of his ideas pan out as well as the ideas are conceived, though. He once tried to play Portal with a cake by wiring buttons to candles with cherries placed on them. It was an idea that was as ill-fated as it sounds.

"I had this cake that I bought from the supermarket. I had a bunch of cherries and candles. So I put the cherries on the candles and wired it so each cherry was a different button. I tried playing it with that. It didn’t work," he recalled. "The whole thing just started melting and falling apart, which was a bit of a shame."

For his current stream series, Rudeism has partnered with the charity AbleGamers, a nonprofit devoted to supplying controllers to those with disabilities. His new challenge? Completing Super Mario 64 with one single button—not one button with an analog stick—but just one, lone button. It's programmed like Morse Code. Different button presses, whether they’re short or long, tell the game to do different things. Two short presses push Mario forward, two long presses send him backward, and combinations of long and short presses do various other actions. The result is the most challenging way possible to play a 3D game adventure game.



"I wanted to do something for AbleGamers because I think it’s a pretty good fit: a charity who builds controllers for people who need them and a guy who builds controllers that absolutely nobody asked for," Rudeism laughs. "I tried to think about people with physical disabilities who can't use controllers like most people can. They have to figure out those limitations. So, I wanted to take that to 100. What’s the most limiting thing that I can do? I think that’s literally playing a game with just one button. I don’t think it gets any simpler of a control scheme than that."

A feat like this requires saint-like patience, something that seems to be ingrained in Rudeism’s DNA. In a recent stream, Rudeism spent three hours trying to complete a single Bowser stage. Through every missed button press that led Mario to his doom, he stayed calm, cool, and collected. Then, he goes right back to it and tries again with a smile on his face.

"I do it for fun, right?" he says. "That’s the reason 99% of us play games. So if you’re not enjoying it, what’s the point?"

As for his future plans, Rudeism is always trying to push the boundaries of what a game controller can be. His viewers can always expect to see some more wild controller ideas. He’s currently trying to figure out how to play The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time with an ocarina. "At this point I don’t think anything can get harder than the Super Mario 64 run. I think I'm pretty free and clear to make things as hard as I want, which is nice."

You can keep up with Rudeism’s content on http://twitch.tv/Rudeism, YouTube, and follow him on Twitter to see what he’s up to in the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBP24P145wQ
Rocket League Radio is getting an upgrade. New Monstercat music is coming to Rocket League, but not in the way you might be used to. For the first time ever, Monstercat releases will arrive in-game the same day that the songs also release to the world at large.

That means you can expect a variety of music from Monstercat to be released in Rocket League all year long. The first song, "PLAY," by Tokyo Machine, is out now and you can hear it as the game's new startup music. You can also check it out on streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, and Monstercat Gold. More than 20 songs will be released on Rocket League Radio throughout the year, and once all the singles are released, they’ll form Rocket League x Monstercat Volumes 6 and 7.

The sound of Rocket League will continue to evolve with this exciting new way to bring content to the game. Mike Ault, Psyonix Audio Director, is excited about the next step in the partnership between Rocket League and Monstercat.

"We’ve become a trusted source for the electronic genre," Mike said. "People religiously follow the EPs we put together with Monstercat and get excited about the songs in there. I'm really looking forward to breaking new ground in another direction. We’re tapping into a record label's literal release cadence. We're releasing it to the world with a record label on the same day. I don’t know of a single game that has ever done that."

Following the full release of Volumes 6 and 7, Rocket League will have close to 100 songs that embrace different sub-genres of electronic music. Many of these new singles will become Rocket League's startup music. The process in which these songs are chosen is more involved and collaborative than you may think, as Monstercat has a few songs that have already been selected for Rocket League Radio, though some of them haven't even been created yet!

"We’re constantly working with Monstercat, looking through upcoming releases together to find music that would potentially strike a chord with the Rocket League community," commented Mike.

That process has opened the door to trying out some new sounds for the game. Those who have followed the sounds of Rocket League since 2015 may notice how the game's tone has changed over time. That change is thanks to Monstercat's deep catalog of work.

"For the first volume, we played it very safe. We picked stuff that was very 'Rocket League,'" Mike said. "Then, over the course of the following year, we tried to touch on some more aggressive stuff and some softer stuff to see what was actually sticking with our community. Now, it's all about figuring out how to select songs in single form throughout the entire year. We want those singles to span different subgenres to create the most intriguing sonic experience for the player."

There's still plenty more for music lovers to look forward to this year and beyond. Mike says that this new direction for Rocket League Radio has the potential to bring new artists to the soundtrack to be enjoyed by the fans of the game, the genre, and then some.

"It would be cool if one day we had a new song every week, or even more," Mike said. "A lot of games talk about their radio feature where you can pick a radio station, but it's all pre-selected stuff. What we are doing is more along the lines of a modern radio station where you hear a brand new song, and then you can go look for it elsewhere. That’s the way I want people to treat Rocket League."

Fire up Rocket League to hear the first new song, "PLAY," by Tokyo Machine. The second and third new songs of the year will release in March. Be sure to check out all of the Rocket League x Monstercat albums on Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, and Monstercat Gold.

A new crate will be making its way into Rocket League next week. The all-new Ferocity Crate will start dropping on Monday, February 25 at 10:00 a.m. PST (6:00 p.m. UTC). With it, you’ll be able to show off new customizations to your friends on all platforms following our Friends Update. The Ferocity Crate will have 17 customizations, including the new Diestro Battle-Car.

In-game items in the Ferocity Crate are subject to the same drop rates as our previous Crates, which you can find here. Check out some of the items from the Ferocity Crate below!

Scheduled Release: February 19, 2019, 10:00 a.m. PST / 6:00 p.m. UTC (All Platforms)

• New Friends List is accessible via the bottom menu bar
  
  • Each player now has a unique RocketID
    
• Competitive Season 9 Rewards will be awarded to eligible accounts
  
• Competitive Season 10 begins
  
• ‘Curveball’ is now available as a Ball Physics Mutator
  

Friends List

• The new Friends List allows you to add friends from other gaming platforms to Parties and Clubs.
  
• Accessible on the bottom menu bar next to Party Chat, it has four distinct tabs:
  
  • Friends
    
    • This tab shows your Friends from the platform you’re playing on
      
    • You can invite these Friends to Parties and Clubs from this menu by clicking on their name
      
  • RocketID
    
    • This tab shows your Friends on other platforms that you’ve added via RocketID
      
    • From here, you can select “Add Friend by RocketID” to search for a friend’s ID
      
    • You can input their name if you don’t know their full tag to do a search
      
  • Recent Players
    
    • Displays the last 25 players you played with or against that you aren’t already friends with
      
  • Alerts
    
    • Shows any pending RocketID Friend Requests you’ve received as well as active Party Invites, Club Invites, and other Notifications
      
• Your ‘RocketID’ is assigned the first time you log in using your name plus a random four-digit code
  
  • If your name doesn’t pass our language filter, you’ll be assigned a temporary, auto-generated name like Octane#1234
    
  • You can change your RocketID at any time for any reason via the RocketID Tab
    
• Show RocketIDs: Hide your RocketID from displaying in your Friends List (Under Options > Interface)
  
  • Players can use this feature to hide their RocketID during a live broadcast
    
• Notifications During Gameplay: Disable Friends List notifications during gameplay (Under Options > Interface)
  

Curveball Mutator

• ‘Curveball’ is now available as a Ball Physics Mutator
  
  • Available in Local Matches, Private Matches, and Tournaments
    
  • When enabled, this Mutator adds a curve effect to the ball’s trajectory based on its spin.
    

Audio

• Rocket League’s audio mix has been updated, including audio priority rebalancing, HDR audio, object elevation, and more
  
• When watching a Replay, audio now appropriately speeds up or slows down along with the Replay video
  

• Competitive Season 9 has ended. Titles and items will be awarded for your highest rank achieved during the season
  
  • Receiving Season 9 Rewards also requires successful completion of the appropriate Season Reward Levels
    
• Season 9 Rewards are custom, non-tradeable Wheels
  
  • Bronze I or higher – Season 9 – Bronze Wheels
    
  • Silver I or higher – Season 9 – Silver Wheels + lower Wheels
    
  • Gold I or higher – Season 9 – Gold Wheels + lower Wheels
    
  • Platinum I or higher – Season 9 – Platinum Wheels + lower Wheels
    
  • Diamond I or higher – Season 9 – Diamond Wheels + lower Wheels
    
  • Champion I or higher – Season 9 – Champion Wheels + lower Wheels
    
• Season 9 Grand Champion Rewards are unique new Titles
  
  • Competitive Grand Champion – ‘Season 9 – Grand Champion’ In-Game Title + all Season 9 Wheels
    
  • Rumble Grand Champion – ‘Season 9 – RNG Champ’ In-Game Title + all Season 9 Wheels
    
  • Dropshot Grand Champion – ‘Season 9 – Floor Destroyer’ In-Game Title + all Season 9 Wheels
    
  • Hoops Grand Champion – ‘Season 9 – Dunk Master’ In-Game Title + all Season Wheels
    
  • Snow Day Grand Champion – ‘Season 9 – Blizzard Wizard’ In-Game Title + all Season 9 Wheels
    

• Competitive Season 10 begins
  
• Season 10 brings a “soft reset” that requires you to do placement matches in each playlist to recalibrate your Rank
  
• Winning half of your placement matches will land you near your previous season ranking
  
• League Rankings will be temporarily empty until players complete their placement matches
  
• All placement match wins count towards your Bronze Season Reward Level progress
  
  
  

• Extra Modes (Dropshot, Hoops, Rumble, and Snow Day) are now available in Free Play
  
  • Extra Modes are only available on certain Arenas as labeled in the Free Play Arena selection window
    
• You can now see how many Weekly Wins you have left on the experience screen at the end of a match
  
• Game Stat Display Level: You can now control which in-game stat notifications you see during a match via the Options > Gameplay menu
  
  • No Stats: You will not receive any notification during matches
    
  • Main Stats Only: notifications for the following will appear:
    
    • Assist
      
    • Epic Save
      
    • Goal
      
    • Save
      
    • Shot
      
    • Demolition
      
  • All Stats: All in-game notifications are displayed
    
• "Input Buffer" option added to the Gameplay Options menu
  
  • This setting controls which method the game uses to send your gameplay inputs to our servers. These methods are:
    
    • Legacy - The default option used since Rocket League launched.
      
    • STS (Sim Time Scaling) - This allows the game server to instruct your client to very subtly speed up or slow down in order to maintain a smooth input stream.
      
    • CSTS (Continuous Sim Time Scaling) - A more aggressive version of STS that uses a continuous feedback loop to determine game speed.
      
  • Both STS and CSTS are newer strategies for latency mitigation that may be more effective for players with connectivity issues, spotty Wi-Fi, etc. than the Legacy method
    
  • If you experience connectivity issues during a match, you should try switching from Legacy to STS or CSTS. If you see no improvement, change back to Legacy
    
    

General

• Fixed a bug preventing players from reconnecting to a match after a disconnection from the server
  
  • Please note that you will still not be able to rejoin if the match you were in has already ended
    
• Fixed a bug causing spectator camera control UI to reappear after any goal is scored
  
• Tournament creators no longer receive an error when trying to spectate matches
  
• [Xbox One] The game app will no longer crash when returning from a suspended state when using Instant-on Mode
  
• Fixed a bug causing trades involving 80 or more Keys to fail
  
• Goal Explosions should no longer play on repeat after backing out of the Crate preview screen
  
• Unrelated Customization Items will no longer appear under the ‘Body’ tab after rapidly opening and closing the Garage menu
  
• Chat sound no longer plays when entering Training while in a Party
  
• Items will appear correctly in the trade window after removing and re-adding to the trade
  
• Keys obtained through Rocket Pass will now stack with other Keys in your inventory
  
• [Switch] The UI will no longer lag when scrolling through a long list of friends
  
• The Special Edition label now appears when a Special Edition item is unlocked in Rocket Pass
  

• Dunk House: In Free Play, the Ball does not lift right after the user moves out of the kick-off position like it does in offline or online matches.
  
• Friends List notifications will not appear while viewing Replays
  
• An incorrect error message may appear if you try to change your Rocket ID if PsyNet is down
  
• [Xbox One] Players may not be able to accept party invites via Xbox One notifications if Rocket League is suspended
  
• [Xbox One] In-game chat is replaced with asterisks (except for quick chat) after loading the game from suspended mode
  
• [Steam, Xbox] Adding a same platform friend through RocketID may cause previously deleted friends to reappear
  
• When previewing the Special Edition ‘Asik’ Wheel in the lobby or Garage, it may appear to have a low level of detail
  
• When spectating a Hoops match, the Blue goal displays an additional vertically-oriented net
  

You’ve asked for it, and it’s almost here. The Friends Update will go live in Rocket League to make Cross-Platform Parties a reality on February 19 (pending first-party certification)!

The Friends Update will bring a new Friends List to the main menu. Here, you’ll be able to see the online status of all of your Rocket League friends regardless of their platform. The Friends List is split into four tabs: Friends, RocketID, Recent Players, and Alerts.

The Friends Tab will display your friends on your current platform. The RocketID Tab will show your online friends on all other platforms. After the update, every player will be auto-assigned a RocketID, which will be your username followed by four randomly-generated numbers. You may change the word portion of your RocketID at any time.

The Recent Players tab conveniently shows players you were recently matched up with or against. If you had solid team chemistry with a randomly-matched player, you can easily send that player a Friend Request from the Recent Players tab if they are on a different platform.

Finally, the Alerts tab will house all of your player interactions like Friend Requests, Party Invites, and Club Invites. Yes, Clubs are now Cross-Platform, too!

Check out the video below to see the new user interface and learn everything you need to know about the Friends Update.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m35zFlZyU4


Extra Modes are coming to Free Play! Following the update, you’ll be able to jump into Dropshot, Hoops, Snow Day, and Rumble to practice for as long as you’d like. Soon, you’ll be able to train and prepare for your journey to Grand Champ in the Extra Modes!

Additionally, Weekly Wins will no longer be a mystery. The Friends Update will add the number of Weekly Wins you have left, which will appear on your XP screen following each game.

And, as you may have seen in our previous Roadmap Blog, The Friends Update will deliver your Competitive Season Rewards based on your placement in Competitive Season 9. Check out our Spring Roadmap to learn more about those rewards.

Here’s the Friends Update at a glance:

• Friends List with Cross-Platform Parties
  
• Competitive Season 9 Rewards, start of Competitive Season 10
  
• Extra Modes in Free Play
  
• Weekly Win Display
  
• Additional Bug Fixes and Improvements
  
• … and more!
  

We’ll be sure to share the full patch notes once the Friends Update goes live on February 19 at 10:00 a.m. PST / 6:00 p.m. UTC on all platforms.


You may recall that we also mentioned an upcoming In-Game Event in last month’s Roadmap that was planned for the February update. Unfortunately, due to multiple factors behind-the-scenes, we have made the difficult decision to cancel our original plans and focus on another In-Game Event later in the year instead.

Please accept our sincerest apologies for the cancellation. To make it up to you, we'd like to give everyone the opportunity to get lots of cool in-game stuff via a weekend of combined Double XP AND Double Painted drop-rates starting March 7. The event will last four days and end on March 11. We hope you enjoy the extra drops and XP and hope to see you join us for the weekend!