Rocket League has sold over 5 million copies and earned over $110 million

Who would’ve thought that a game involving rocket-powered cars and football would make over a $100 million dollars? Psyonix certainly did not, but they went ahead and made Rocket League anyway.

With $110 million in earnings , over 5 million games sold, 5 million DLC packs sold and innumerable free downloads on PlayStation Plus, Rocket League is a hit by any measure. Its very first foray into eSports, via Twitch, grabbed the attention of 300,000 viewers, 15 million people have played the game since July and there were 5 million active players in April. It’s also the first game to offer cross platform play.

8 months since the original release, the game is still growing and looks like it’ll maintain that pace for a long time yet.

What is the secret to their success? The rocket-powered cars and the insane gameplay play their part, but the real success of the game can be attributed to the developers’ attitude to the game and the continued effort that they put into the game’s development and the DLCs.

The game did catch the gaming public’s imagination, it wouldn’t be a hit otherwise, but the developers tell Forbes that they treat the game as a free-to-play (F2P) title and that’s key to the game’s success. An F2P title requires constant updates to keep players engaged, new content. And that’s exactly what Psyonix is giving everyone. Their DLCs alone are as good as separate games and they maintain a constant communication with their player base, taking their needs into consideration.

There’s a lot going on at Psyonix and too many varied factors have, together, contributed to the game’s success. Regardless, we really must tip our hats off to the developers and the great community that they’ve built around the game. Without them, this would have simply been impossible.

On a side note, developer CD Projeckt RED and their Witcher franchise is as different from Rocket League as apples and eggs, but they share the same attitude with regards to their respective games. The response from both communities is equally loyal.