That’s right, Rocket League will be getting unlockable crates in a near-future update.
The news was uncovered by an eagle-eyed redditor, who found a crate and key assets in the game’s files. Psyonix VP Jeremy Dunham replied to the post “Those assets are, indeed, early pieces of an upcoming system we plan on implementing to fund our esports prize pools and events,” he wrote. “We plan on officially announcing it next month at (or near) the RLCS Live Finals since it directly relates to that event and other events like it, but since this image came out before our official word, we wanted to clarify some things for you.”
Dunham went on to clarify the following points:
- Crates will contain cosmetic content only. We have a strict “Don’t Sell Advantage” policy for Rocket League, and we’re sticking with that.
- There will be no Steam Marketplace integration with crates. We are definitely aware of the problems related to third-party gambling in other games and we are not interested in taking that approach.
- Players who don’t want to interact with this system can hide it entirely with a single checkbox. Also of note, this won’t affect or impact our current item-drop system in any way.
Using in-game microtransactions to fund competitive tournaments is a proven method to create large prize pools. Valve implemented the feature for last year’s The International, amassing a prize pool over $18 million.
