Earlier today we took the stage on the final day of the Rocket League Championship Series final to officially debut a brand new mode scheduled for release next month, Rocket League Rumble!

A FREE game mode to be included with our next update in September, Rocket League Rumble is an epic battle royale-style addition that comes stacked with randomized power-ups. Whether you're equipped with the Haymaker (which punches the ball), the Swapper (which changes your place on the field with an opponent's), or the Tornado (you'll just have to see it to believe it), each one of the 11 new power-ups brings an extra dimension to the classic Rocket League formula.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iz-dQifR7Q

Like the "Hoops" and "Mutator" modes before it, Rocket League Rumble will appear in online playlists and Private and Exhibition matches. For the latter, you can select specific Mutators, including Slow, Civilized, Destruction Derby, and Spring-Loaded. The complete power-up list includes:

• The Boot (Kicks an opponent's car)
  
• Disruptor (Forces your opponent to drive uncontrollably)
  
• Freezer (Freezes the ball in-place)
  
• Grappling Hook (Pulls you towards the ball)
  
• Haymaker (Punches the ball)
  
• Magnetizer (Attracts the ball to your car)
  
• Plunger (Grabs the ball via plunger and cord)
  
• Power Hitter (Allows you to hit everything harder)
  
• Spike (Attach the ball to your car when you bump into it)
  
• Swapper (Change positions on the field with your opponent)
  
• Tornado (Sweep up the ball and opposing cars into a giant funnel cloud)

Check out the trailer to see the new mode in action and remember to watch the final season-one RLCS match-ups today and forever on Twitch.TV/RocketLeague

Earlier today we took the stage on the final day of the Rocket League Championship Series final to officially debut a brand new mode scheduled for release next month, Rocket League Rumble!

A FREE game mode to be included with our next update in September, Rocket League Rumble is an epic battle royale-style addition that comes stacked with randomized power-ups. Whether you're equipped with the Haymaker (which punches the ball), the Swapper (which changes your place on the field with an opponent's), or the Tornado (you'll just have to see it to believe it), each one of the 11 new power-ups brings an extra dimension to the classic Rocket League formula.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iz-dQifR7Q

Like the "Hoops" and "Mutator" modes before it, Rocket League Rumble will appear in online playlists and Private and Exhibition matches. For the latter, you can select specific Mutators, including Slow, Civilized, Destruction Derby, and Spring-Loaded. The complete power-up list includes:

• The Boot (Kicks an opponent's car)
  
• Disruptor (Forces your opponent to drive uncontrollably)
  
• Freezer (Freezes the ball in-place)
  
• Grappling Hook (Pulls you towards the ball)
  
• Haymaker (Punches the ball)
  
• Magnetizer (Attracts the ball to your car)
  
• Plunger (Grabs the ball via plunger and cord)
  
• Power Hitter (Allows you to hit everything harder)
  
• Spike (Attach the ball to your car when you bump into it)
  
• Swapper (Change positions on the field with your opponent)
  
• Tornado (Sweep up the ball and opposing cars into a giant funnel cloud)

Check out the trailer to see the new mode in action and remember to watch the final season-one RLCS match-ups today and forever on Twitch.TV/RocketLeague

When we announced our plans for Season 3, we discussed our plans to deploy a Competitive Skill Restriction in a future update. We have deployed a Party Matchmaking update today to address these issues, but it’s a little different from what we first explained. Originally, the restriction prevented parties from queuing for Competitive matches if their Skill Ratings were too far apart, but the more we worked on the feature, the more we realized that there was a better way to do it. Before we explain what that "better way" is, let's first discuss how we got here:

First, the Competitive Restriction would have had a negative impact on groups of friends that were not abusing the system, but fell outside the new limitations. For instance, you may have been in a party with friends three tiers below you, then you won a match, ranked up, but your friends didn't. In this scenario, you would no longer be able to play together. Theoretically, this was a negative side-effect that you'd just have to accept to maintain the integrity of competitive play, but one of the reasons we kept thinking about alternatives.

Secondly, for the Champion players among you, a three-tiered skill restriction would not have entirely fixed the ability of players to exploit the Top 100 Skill Leaderboards. A Grand Champion paired with a Superstar -- the lowest-allowed player under the restriction -- would still climb the leaderboards more quickly than two Grand Champions playing together. This isn’t a bug, per se, it’s a logical outcome for the skill system. A Grand Champion and Superstar team is expected to lose to a team of two Grand Champions, so they earn more Skill rating for a victory. But this kind of setup also creates an incentive for fellow Champion players to "smurf" with an alternate, Superstar-ranked account so that ranks can be gained faster than playing legitimately.

Here's what we've decided to do instead:

Our new solution does a better job of fixing the problems at hand. Here's how it works:

• You can search for Competitive games in a Party with anyone in your friends' list, regardless of their current skill tier
  
• Instead of averaging each player’s skill together in a Party, Party Skill is now based on the highest-skilled player in the group
  
• When skill ratings are updated after a match, the new Party Skill rating will be used to prevent players from ranking up faster by teaming up with lower-ranked friends

What does this mean in practice? Let’s look at a few examples:

• A Challenger Elite player and a Prospect Elite player party up to play Doubles together. Previously, that combination would have averaged out to roughly Challenger II-level. Under the new system, they will be considered a Challenger Elite party.
  
• A Grand Champion player and an Unranked player party up. Previously, they would have matched as Rising Star, and the Grand Champion could earn skill rating despite playing lower-ranked players. This pairing will now match as Grand Champion. And, more importantly, that Grand Champion player will earn the same skill rating as a party of two Grand Champions would - not the skewed gains seen on the live servers. And their opponents will gain or lose the same rating as they would against two Grand Champions.

This new system has major upsides. First, friends can still queue Competitive together even if their ranks aren’t quite close enough, and second, when players face off against parties of wide skill variance, the highest ranked player should be near their rank, not significantly above them. Finally, using a low-ranked "Smurf" teammate no longer gives any tangible benefit when ranking up.

We recognize that just fixing matches going forward doesn’t address the existing issues with players who have exploited these loopholes to reach rankings they don’t deserve.

For now, we will take specific action against players at Rising Star and above that have demonstrated a consistent pattern of partying with teammates well below their personal rank. This pattern is defined as follows:

• Greater than 25% of matches played with a teammate more than eight skill tiers below the player.
  
• Greater than 30 matches played with a teammate more than eight skill tiers below the player.

All players that meet either of the above criteria, and are in Rising Star tier or higher, will have their Skill Tier and MMR set to Rising Star, Division I. For the purposes of end of season rewards, they will not be considered to have reached Champion unless they reacquire that ranking after these changes.

As always we welcome your feedback and look forward to seeing how you like the new system. Enjoy!

When we announced our plans for Season 3, we discussed our plans to deploy a Competitive Skill Restriction in a future update. We have deployed a Party Matchmaking update today to address these issues, but it’s a little different from what we first explained. Originally, the restriction prevented parties from queuing for Competitive matches if their Skill Ratings were too far apart, but the more we worked on the feature, the more we realized that there was a better way to do it. Before we explain what that "better way" is, let's first discuss how we got here:

First, the Competitive Restriction would have had a negative impact on groups of friends that were not abusing the system, but fell outside the new limitations. For instance, you may have been in a party with friends three tiers below you, then you won a match, ranked up, but your friends didn't. In this scenario, you would no longer be able to play together. Theoretically, this was a negative side-effect that you'd just have to accept to maintain the integrity of competitive play, but one of the reasons we kept thinking about alternatives.

Secondly, for the Champion players among you, a three-tiered skill restriction would not have entirely fixed the ability of players to exploit the Top 100 Skill Leaderboards. A Grand Champion paired with a Superstar -- the lowest-allowed player under the restriction -- would still climb the leaderboards more quickly than two Grand Champions playing together. This isn’t a bug, per se, it’s a logical outcome for the skill system. A Grand Champion and Superstar team is expected to lose to a team of two Grand Champions, so they earn more Skill rating for a victory. But this kind of setup also creates an incentive for fellow Champion players to "smurf" with an alternate, Superstar-ranked account so that ranks can be gained faster than playing legitimately.

Here's what we've decided to do instead:

Our new solution does a better job of fixing the problems at hand. Here's how it works:

• You can search for Competitive games in a Party with anyone in your friends' list, regardless of their current skill tier
  
• Instead of averaging each player’s skill together in a Party, Party Skill is now based on the highest-skilled player in the group
  
• When skill ratings are updated after a match, the new Party Skill rating will be used to prevent players from ranking up faster by teaming up with lower-ranked friends

What does this mean in practice? Let’s look at a few examples:

• A Challenger Elite player and a Prospect Elite player party up to play Doubles together. Previously, that combination would have averaged out to roughly Challenger II-level. Under the new system, they will be considered a Challenger Elite party.
  
• A Grand Champion player and an Unranked player party up. Previously, they would have matched as Rising Star, and the Grand Champion could earn skill rating despite playing lower-ranked players. This pairing will now match as Grand Champion. And, more importantly, that Grand Champion player will earn the same skill rating as a party of two Grand Champions would - not the skewed gains seen on the live servers. And their opponents will gain or lose the same rating as they would against two Grand Champions.

This new system has major upsides. First, friends can still queue Competitive together even if their ranks aren’t quite close enough, and second, when players face off against parties of wide skill variance, the highest ranked player should be near their rank, not significantly above them. Finally, using a low-ranked "Smurf" teammate no longer gives any tangible benefit when ranking up.

We recognize that just fixing matches going forward doesn’t address the existing issues with players who have exploited these loopholes to reach rankings they don’t deserve.

For now, we will take specific action against players at Rising Star and above that have demonstrated a consistent pattern of partying with teammates well below their personal rank. This pattern is defined as follows:

• Greater than 25% of matches played with a teammate more than eight skill tiers below the player.
  
• Greater than 30 matches played with a teammate more than eight skill tiers below the player.

All players that meet either of the above criteria, and are in Rising Star tier or higher, will have their Skill Tier and MMR set to Rising Star, Division I. For the purposes of end of season rewards, they will not be considered to have reached Champion unless they reacquire that ranking after these changes.

As always we welcome your feedback and look forward to seeing how you like the new system. Enjoy!

Hello again! We’re back with more sweet cross-promotional news for you!

If you've been playing Double Fine Productions and Adult Swim Games’ playfully-titled '70s-inspired Metroidvania game, Headlander, (and we’ve don't blame you, we've been checking it out, too), then do we have something for you!

Though we had been going back and forth with our friends at Double Fine regarding potential ways to share cool stuff for our respective communities, we ultimately landed on showcasing a little bit of LucasArts’ old school charms and Double Fine’s fresh and humorous perspective with two new Garage customization items. Both of them will be available for FREE on PS4 and Steam PC when our next patch drops later this summer.

The Starcophagus Antenna (above) is inspired by a spaceship you’ll briefly explore in the aforementioned Headlander, while we've also grabbed the famous Purple Tentacle from Day of the Tentacle to commemorate its recent remastered revival. Check out that Topper’s slimy splendor in the screenshot below:




Double Fine has also returned the favor and added our famous Octane Battle-Car and the Rocket League ball into Headlander! As an extra bonus, the ball itself can also be vacuumed up if you want to shoot some interstellar hoops!

We won’t totally ruin the surprise of where you can find these Easter eggs in Headlander’s space station, but definitely check out the visual proof, below. Oh, and be sure to check back with us again over the next several weeks for some pretty exciting (and surprising) news about our big summer update. In the meantime, happy hunting!

Hello again! We’re back with more sweet cross-promotional news for you!

If you've been playing Double Fine Productions and Adult Swim Games’ playfully-titled '70s-inspired Metroidvania game, Headlander, (and we’ve don't blame you, we've been checking it out, too), then do we have something for you!

Though we had been going back and forth with our friends at Double Fine regarding potential ways to share cool stuff for our respective communities, we ultimately landed on showcasing a little bit of LucasArts’ old school charms and Double Fine’s fresh and humorous perspective with two new Garage customization items. Both of them will be available for FREE on PS4 and Steam PC when our next patch drops later this summer.

The Starcophagus Antenna (above) is inspired by a spaceship you’ll briefly explore in the aforementioned Headlander, while we've also grabbed the famous Purple Tentacle from Day of the Tentacle to commemorate its recent remastered revival. Check out that Topper’s slimy splendor in the screenshot below:




Double Fine has also returned the favor and added our famous Octane Battle-Car and the Rocket League ball into Headlander! As an extra bonus, the ball itself can also be vacuumed up if you want to shoot some interstellar hoops!

We won’t totally ruin the surprise of where you can find these Easter eggs in Headlander’s space station, but definitely check out the visual proof, below. Oh, and be sure to check back with us again over the next several weeks for some pretty exciting (and surprising) news about our big summer update. In the meantime, happy hunting!

Rocket League: Collector’s Edition hit retail shelves earlier this month and along with it, four timed-exclusive Battle-Cars. Starting today, however, those four vehicles are exclusives no more, as they are now available for digital purchase as DLC on Steam PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Priced at $1.99 USD per vehicle, each car has its own unique personality and inspiration. Whether it’s the Neo Tokyo-inspired, “Esper” and “Masamune” or classic Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Car vehicles, “Marauder” and “Aftershock,” there’s a little something for everyone regardless of your stylistic preferences.

Grab your favorites now!

Rocket League: Collector’s Edition hit retail shelves earlier this month and along with it, four timed-exclusive Battle-Cars. Starting today, however, those four vehicles are exclusives no more, as they are now available for digital purchase as DLC on Steam PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Priced at $1.99 USD per vehicle, each car has its own unique personality and inspiration. Whether it’s the Neo Tokyo-inspired, “Esper” and “Masamune” or classic Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Car vehicles, “Marauder” and “Aftershock,” there’s a little something for everyone regardless of your stylistic preferences.

Grab your favorites now!

Our dev friends at Team17 dropped some very exciting news today about Worms W.M.D. All-Stars and Rocket League: The Octane Battle-Car!

Earlier this year, we announced the Worms W.M.D. Grenade Antenna, Topper and Flag for customization in the Garage. Today, we’re happy to reveal that our iconic Battle-Car and Ball are headed to Worms W.M.D for those that pre-order!

Check out this GIF to see Octane in action:



Players who pre-order before Worms W.M.D’s August 23rd launch, will receive the Rocket League items and Worms W.M.D. All-Stars content. In addition to us, these other games are also making a Worms appearance:

• “Classic” Worms
• Broforce
• The Escapists
• Goat Simulator
• Orcs Must Die! Unchained
• PAYDAY 2
• Saints Row IV
• Unturned
• Yooka-Laylee
• Rare All-Stars (Xbox One-only)
• Team Fortress 2 (PC-only)

You can check out the full All-Stars team in the pre-order trailer below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1InXWY4EkQY

The Worms W.M.D All-Stars Edition will be available to all gamers who pre-order Worms W.M.D ahead of its August 23rd launch via Steam.

Our dev friends at Team17 dropped some very exciting news today about Worms W.M.D. All-Stars and Rocket League: The Octane Battle-Car!

Earlier this year, we announced the Worms W.M.D. Grenade Antenna, Topper and Flag for customization in the Garage. Today, we’re happy to reveal that our iconic Battle-Car and Ball are headed to Worms W.M.D for those that pre-order!

Check out this GIF to see Octane in action:



Players who pre-order before Worms W.M.D’s August 23rd launch, will receive the Rocket League items and Worms W.M.D. All-Stars content. In addition to us, these other games are also making a Worms appearance:

• “Classic” Worms
• Broforce
• The Escapists
• Goat Simulator
• Orcs Must Die! Unchained
• PAYDAY 2
• Saints Row IV
• Unturned
• Yooka-Laylee
• Rare All-Stars (Xbox One-only)
• Team Fortress 2 (PC-only)

You can check out the full All-Stars team in the pre-order trailer below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1InXWY4EkQY

The Worms W.M.D All-Stars Edition will be available to all gamers who pre-order Worms W.M.D ahead of its August 23rd launch via Steam.