Rocket League Bans Dished Out After Alpha Boost Controversy

Players who have stuck around long enough in Rocket League to realise that the simple cosmetics are the best will know just how cool the Alpha Boost is.

However, getting your hands on the rare item will set you back thousands of pounds, and therefore, it's not surprising that some people have been banned for trying to skate around the rules and scam the developers. 

An entire wave of Rocket League bans has recently been dished out from Psyonix after players "duplicated" the Alpha Boosts, and it's caused havoc within the scene.

A select few players found that if you trade an Alpha Boost to a smurf account (a low-level alternate account) without anything in return, you could report this as a scam.

Psyonix would then gift the reportedly scammed victim a trade-locked Alpha Boost and the accounts would then be sold at a cut-rate of the approximately $8,000 item.

The developers soon caught on and dished out one of the biggest waves of Rocket League bans since the game was released.

Alpha Boost Duplication Glitch Results In Huge Wave of Rocket League Bans 

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Just after a massive Rocket League ban wave was given to "bots," Psyonix took action against players who had both sold or acquired the trade-locked Alpha Boosts. 

"We banned a small number of accounts after an investigation showed that they acquired a Gold Rush Boost (also known as Alpha Boost) after filing false compromised account claims with our Player Support team," said Psyonix on Reddit.

The bans had a drastic impact on many third-tier RLCS teams (known as the bubble scene) who had a roster lock on the day of Psyonix's announcement, which even resulted in Dillon "Rizzo" Rizzo coming out of retirement to help out a team who hosted a banned player.

Psyonix Reverses Rocket League Bans For Recipients Of Fake Alpha Boosts

Following a mass social media hysteria, the developers have now reversed their decision affecting those who only received the Alpha Boosts. 

Many of the players, including former XSET, Susquehanna Soniqs, and Ghost Gaming player Tristian "tcorrell" Correll, have now been unbanned and can continue to compete in the RLCS.

"Accounts tied to the original sellers mentioned above, or to players that independently filed false compromised account claims," will continue to serve their bans, though, and will be illegible for any Rocket League esports event.

All of the traded Alpha Boosts have now been removed from the accounts too, making Gold Rush even more unique now.