Rocket Arena may be dead just ten days after launch. The 3v3 competitive shooter released back on the 14th of July and I thought it was pretty cool. Its unique approach to PvP merged Super Smash Bros, Quake and Overwatch mechanics together to deliver an addictive experience. In my review, I did state that the game would be getting a battle pass later this month, however, the future of Rocket Arena is so grim that players may not be around for when the pass arrives. Rocket Arena matchmaking is so bad that most of the launch player base have left already.
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Since launch, the player base has dropped to a non-existent level. According to Steam Charts, Rocket Arena kicked off with an all-time peak of 613 players but since, it has dropped to under 100. Keep in mind that the PC version of the game is also available on Origin too. However, I doubt EA’s launcher will have more people playing the game than on Steam.
On console, it is even worse. I tried to find a match and it failed after 20 minutes. Even bot matches are impossible to find. This makes completing daily challenges tough. I enabled cross-play and it was the same situation. Matchmaking is just long and tedious. Not to mention how unbalanced cross-play is when not playing on PC. It is not the ideal workaround. Matches also last for under five minutes, often less at times. All that matchmaking is just not worth it.
It is so bad that the official Rocket Arena Discord is now used to find players to play the game with. In addition, Final Strike Games developers are helping players out by matchmaking them with people who want to play the game. Right now, it is your best bet if you are trying to matchmake.
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So what happened? Well, many gamers argue that Rocket Arena should have been a free-to-play game. It was not. Instead, it costs over R400 or $30. Its premium model also boasts quite a robust in-game store not shy of microtransactions known as Rocket Fuel. Not to mention the battle pass which arrives next week too. This pass will set you back real-money at the same time. You can grind for Rocket Parts to purchase the items in the store, but you need players to play with.
Sure, Final Strike Games plans on releasing a bunch of free content to the game such as characters, maps and modes, but these are still planned for the future. Unfortunately, there’s just nothing to keep you coming back for more right now. Even the in-game store items are just pretty meh. Skins change the colour of a character’s jacket and the totems just don’t play a major role in your appearance.
Not to mention that EA already advertised the game’s battle pass since day one. This means you just paid for a game and already, another purchase is being thrown at you along with a bunch of microtransaction. Perhaps EA should have removed all real-world currency from the game during its launch period. Perhaps Final Strike Games should have been a little more transparent with their plans for the free content so players felt better for paying for a game which feels free-to-play. I don’t know if Rocket Arena is dead or if the developers have a plan to fix matchmaking. We will have to see.
