Wall Street Journal reports a new milestone for
Rocket League, the
runaway hit motorsports game, saying developer Psyonix is claiming the game has
now raked in almost $50 million in revenue since launching for PC and
PlayStation 4 (thanks
MCV). They quote company founder Dave Hagewood on how they managed this:
“We paid the bills by working on some of the biggest games in the
industry,” such as EA’s “Mass Effect 3” and Microsoft Corp.’s “Gears of War,”
the 40-year-old said.
The few who played “Battle-Cars” loved it, Mr. Hagewood said, “so we saw that as
a problem of awareness.”
His strategy for “Rocket League” was to get it into as many hands as possible.
So he made it a free download for a month for Sony Corp.’s PlayStation Plus
subscribers. Otherwise, it was $20 for nonsubscribers and PC users.
Psyonix also passed along the game to players who stream on YouTube and Twitch,
in a bid to build word of mouth.