RLCS Announcement ridiculed by players, forces retirement talk
The Rocket League community has been dealt a number of flat tyres in recent months, as the core game has been pushed aside while Epic Games focused on porting the cars over to Fortnite.
The removal of player-to-player trading has kickstarted a trajectory of disappointment for Rocket League players, with the calls for a "class action" lawsuit against Epic to be formed, and this was only heightened as Rocket Racing emerged to be everything that they didn't want.
Now, despite an air of hope being injected into the heavily esports-orientated fan culture following the announcement of BLAST's four-year RLCS deal, there has been utter outrage at the 2024 season announcement, even resulting in one player calling an early end to his career.
Outrage ensues at RLCS 2024 announcement
Click to enlargeThe new RLCS 2024 season announcement has finally arrived after the longest off-season in the esports' history, and players are far from happy.
"When you hear there might be 7 spots for NA and EU and then they REMOVE a spot. I’ve tried to stay optimistic tbh but what they are doing is just awful. Game deserves better," said North American Legend Garrett "GarrettG" Gordon, referencing the limited number of slots at Majors, despite talks of the international events expanding from 16 teams to 24 under the previous ESL leadership.
"I'm so annoyed wow this is unreal. A complete step down in 90% of things," added vocal European focal figure Jack "ApparentlyJack" Benton.
Even on the business side of things, Rocket League's new format is not going down well.
Spacestation Gaming CEO and Co-Founder Shawn "Unit" Pellerin said, "We love Rocket League at SSG and have been involved in the RLCS for the last 6 years... but this really feels like a punch to the guts."
RLCS 2024 announcement prompts retirement talk
Immediately after the announcement and the social media siege against Epic and BLAST, 17-year-old Andres "dreaz" Jordan announced that he was quitting Rocket League esports.
"[I] don’t have the passion to continue playing," he cited in a retirement tweet. Dreaz previously competed in Majors under G2 Esports and OpTic Gaming.
He wasn't the only player to open up talks about ending their career prematurely either.
"I think if things don’t look positive throughout this season then it will more than likely be my last," said Joseph "noly" Kidd. "I love nothing more than competing but I can’t keep putting endless hours into something that doesn’t give a f**k."
In a more joke-like manner, French phenom Axel "Vatira" Touret claimed that he's now looking for a team to become a midlaner in League of Legends.
Still, it appears to be quite a rough time for Rocket League players and fans, and the near future doesn't look too much brighter.
