With 2015 coming to a close we can say without a doubt that Rocket League was one of the most unexpected hits of the year. The breakout indie title has amassed nearly $50 million in total revenue as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Developer Psyonix had been the most surprised at the amount of success their game has received. Studio founder and CEO Dave Hagewood spoke to the Wall Street Journal about the ups and downs the studio had went through before finding success with Rocket League.
Rocket League’s predecessor Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars released in 2008 with little fanfare barely garnering any purchases despite it’s low price of $9.99. Nevertheless, the small community of gamers who heard of and played the game adored it. Hagewood saw this as a “problem of awareness” and switched up the marketing strategy to have as many people play the game as possible. It later was a free download for Playstation Plus members and copies were given to popular streamers to build word of mouth.
The game now is considered a commercial and critical success. At the Game Awards this year the game won the awards for Best Sports/Racing title and Best Independent Game. More than 8 million players have registered for the game since its launch in July.
The $50 million revenue figure is a large profit from the near $2 million total budget put into the game. Costs were payed for by contract work for other famous titles.
“We paid the bills by working on some of the biggest games in the industry,” said Hagewood. These include Mass Effect 3 and Gears of War.
The game’s popularity has reached such a peak that major entertainment companies have inquired about inserting their properties into the game. Universal Pictures worked out a deal recently that added the famous DeLorean from the Back to the Future franchise as downloadable content. “It didn’t really sink in until they told me they had to get Steven Spielberg’s approval,” Mr. Hagewood said.
Talks are said to be happening to bring KITT from the Knight Rider television show into the game.
Rocket League is currently available on Playstation 4 and PC but Psyonix has announced that it will be coming to Xbox One early 2016.