"Rocket League is still a priority" despite Psyonix layoffs

While looking through the countless LinkedIn posts of developers looking for work after Epic Games laid off over 1,000 staff this week, I noticed a disproportionate number worked for Psyonix. The Rocket League developer was acquired by Epic in 2019, and has continued to work on the hit car-football crossover, as well as various Fortnite implementations, since. However, a spokesperson assures PCGamesN that Rocket League is still at the forefront of Epic’s mind.

“The Psyonix team is a core part of Epic’s game development,” Epic Games spokesperson Cat McCormack tells PCGamesN. “Rocket League is still a priority, and the team continues to work on making a great game for the community.”

Rocket League has been seeing somewhat of a resurgence of late, reaching 40,000 concurrent players for the first time since 2023, according to SteamDB. Those players will be glad to hear that Epic still considers Psyonix and Rocket League a priority, but the company wouldn’t share specific numbers of developers laid off from the Psyonix team at this point. Though a small sample size, half a dozen of the roughly 100 LinkedIn posts I read were from Psyonix employees.

Psyonix has continued to release seasonal content and bug fixes for Rocket League over the years, bringing lapsed players back to the fold and inviting new players to the game. The developer even published a bug fix update on March 23, the day before Epic announced the mass layoffs that would put over 1,000 people out of a job.

In addition to keeping Rocket League updated, Psyonix was behind the Rocket Racing minigame within Fortnite, and released the mobile spin-off Rocket League Sideswipe in 2021. It had also previously collaborated with Epic in the ’00s, providing additional development for Unreal Tournament 2004, Gears of War, and Unreal Tournament 3. In particular, it was responsible for the vehicle-based Onslaught mod for Unreal Tournament 2004, which was the first step on the path to Rocket League stardom.

The future of Rocket League is unclear, but Epic’s assurances mean that players can sleep easily for the time being. Only time will tell whether the team gets folded into Fortnite development or continues updating Rocket League at its current seasonal rate, but fans of four-wheeled football fun shouldn’t panic just yet.