Rocket League dev says no plans for power-ups

Rocket League is the best new competitive game around, which explains why—two weeks after its release—it's still at the top of the Steam chart. The pure, simplistic execution of its goofy cars-play-football premise makes for a fun, knockabout romp that also offers a high skill ceiling and oodles of tactical depth. The fear of that purity being diluted is why some in the community were concerned by this interview, in which an unnamed Psyonix spokesperson seemingly revealed that power-ups were planned for the game.

"There are not going to be power-ups added to the game," Hagewood wrote. "We're not going to change balance, add stats, change physics, etc. We have a good formula and there are already infinite ways to make the game even better without changing core gameplay."

According to Hagewood, the answer may have been based on the possibility of mutators—something that could be introduced for private matches. As anyone who played Unreal Tournament knows, mutators are brilliant. If limited to private matchmaking, they could be a great addition to Rocket League. Car-mounted grappling hooks? Who wouldn't love that.

While details weren't given, Hagewood also noted that Psyonix were working on a way to dissuade players from quitting mid-match. "We are addressing this soon," he wrote.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.