The popular auto soccer game Rocket League is going free to play. To prepare for this, there was a patch for all platforms. However, this has made users on Steam quite angry, as they now need to create an Epic account to continue playing.
This is the situation: Since September 16, players of Rocket League on Steam have needed an account with the Epic Games Store if they want to play there. The change was introduced with a new patch that prepares the transition to a free-to-play model. This is set to launch on September 23.
Why is this necessary? The developer of Rocket League, Psyonix, was already bought by Epic in May 2019. Shortly after, the game became available on the Epic Games Store.
Now, with the transition to free-to-play, it seems mandatory to register with Epic if one wants to play Rocket League on PC. Many players and fans of the game are, however, far from happy about this.
“It’s just bullsh*t”
This is what the players say: The ratings of Rocket League on Steam are currently steadily dropping, with more and more players leaving negative reviews. The most common reason for this is the annoyance over the compulsion to use an Epic account:
- The user Miko says: “After over 900 hours of gameplay, one is forced to create an Epic account. Seriously?!”
- Vlasick writes: “It’s just bullsh*t that you have to register with the Epic Games Launcher to be able to play Rocket League via Steam.”
Even positive reviews are actually negative and address the issue. JustBrainless writes: “Epic Games is professionally ruining a super cool game here.” He leaves in the positive review because the game itself is still good.
Overall, the consensus among most players about Rocket League itself is positive. The game remains extremely good, and positive ratings continue to be given. Only the Epic compulsion seems to bother them.
Why is this a problem? Many PC players, especially Steam users, dislike the Epic Store, mostly because they don’t want another distribution platform. In February, one could even read “Fuck Epic Games Store” on Google when searching for Steam.
However, the feud is not the only reason. As the user GameStunts notes on reddit, it is not possible to view the terms of service when creating an Epic account through Rocket League. He shows a short clip:
One does not know what one is agreeing to and to whom one is giving their data. Both he and other users find this extremely concerning. They do not want Epic or the Chinese tech giant Tencent, which owns a large share of Epic, to be able to handle their data in such a manner.
Epic is already in a precarious situation as the legal battle with Apple continues. This involved the popular Battle Royale Fortnite, which was removed from the Apple App Store. Recently, Apple filed a counter-suit and attacked Epic: This is all just PR for a struggling Fortnite.
