Just recently, Psyonix announced that player-to-player trading will be removed in December this year, causing outrage within the Rocket League community. Aggrieved, many have even gone so far as to pronounce the game "dead" in the wake of a series of mishaps.
One of Rocket League’s unique features was the ability to trade items with fellow players, many players used this to obtain desired cosmetics while trading duplicates accumulated over countless hours of gameplay.
Later this year, Rocket League players will no longer have the option to trade cosmetic items with one another. Psyonix explained that this decision was influenced by the cosmetic policies of parent company Epic Games, which restrict sales and only permit in-game trades.
Rocket League fans are unhappy about the removal of player-to-player trading
On October 10, the Psyonic team announced that Player-to-Player Trading will be removed from Rocket League on December 5 at 4 PM PST / 7 PM EDT / 12 AM BST, to the dismay of many Rocket League fans.
According to the announcement, this decision was made to align with Epic’s stance on game cosmetics and item shop policies, where items aren’t tradable, transferable, or sellable. Furthermore, it opens up “future plans for some Rocket League vehicles to come to other Epic games over time, supporting cross-game ownership.”
However, it's widely known that Epic Games has faced financial challenges, spending more money than it's been generating and even resorting to a significant layoff of 900 employees in an effort to stabilise its finances. This has led many to speculate that the decision to remove player-to-player trading in Rocket League may be financially motivated.
This announcement was met with instant and widespread disapproval among both the general and professional community. Popular creator Jons Sandman is clearly dismayed, tweeting, “Rocket League died today. For me. I mean it. This is so sad.” Rocket League professional player Lethamyr writes, “I’m heated at how poorly this game is being treated,” and declares that “Rocket League deserves better.”
Rocket League fans have taken to social media to voice their discontent. "Psyonix and Epic making the worst decisions possible for Rocket League," laments Azfura on Twitter (X).
"RIP Rocket League Garage," writes u/OpticalIllusion_ on Reddit. "They really want this game to die, huh," adds u/DshadoW10. “This is absolute bs.”, u/MuskratAtWork adds, “Still z e r o communication or care for the community at all. Just a cash grab at this point. All [they] care about is selling products and items and no care at all for the health of gameplay or the community.”
The prevailing sentiment has since shifted from "Why, though?" to “Rocket League is dead”.
Recently, a petition to keep “player trading” in Rocket League was created on Change.org and is rapidly approaching its goal of 15,000 signatures. Nick Wallgren, the petition's creator, expressed his sentiments, stating: "When I first started to play Rocket League, trading was one of my favorite things to do and what got me to play the game more. Taking it away from the player base is an absolute disgrace and the Rocket League team needs to rethink this decision immediately. Sign this to let them know to change it!!"
The Psyonix team also included a FAQ in their announcement. For the complete FAQ, you can refer to this link. For those who have been playing Rocket League since launch, you may want to take advantage of the player-to-player trading system ahead of 5 December.