Rocket League is putting an end to player-to-player item trading in less than two months, and fans have already begun expressing their anger over the situation with social media posts and petitions.
The news was announced yesterday (October 10) in an announcement post on the Rocket League website. There, it was confirmed that the feature will be removed on December 5 (although trades conducted before this point won’t be reversed).
“We’re making this change to align with Epic’s overall approach to game cosmetics and item shop policies, where items aren’t tradable, transferrable, or sellable,” the post explains. “This opens up future plans for some Rocket League vehicles to come to other Epic games over time, supporting cross-game ownership.”
Up to this point, players have been able to trade many things, including Bonus Gifts and free post-game drops, as long as they meet certain conditions. Those looking to trade must be level 30 or above in-game, and players who started playing after Rocket League’s free-to-play update must have bought at least 500 Credits or the equivalent of in-game currency with real money to use the feature. For reference, 500 Credits cost $4.99 / £3.99.
On Twitter, one Rocket League player, @ItsSlumpii, posted a tweet directed at Epic Games’ CEO, Tim Sweeney, urging him and “everyone at Epic to reconsider” the decision to remove trading. She wrote: “Trading is a core feature that everyone uses and nobody asked for it to be taken away. This is very clear from the response the community has given to the announcement. For a lot of people, this was the final straw due to the lack of meaningful updates to the game in recent years.”
Meanwhile on Change.org, a number of petitions have been started in an attempt to make an impact. The largest of these, started by a user known as Nick Wallgren, has accumulated over 4,500 signatures since yesterday. Wallgren stated in the petition description that the removal of trading is an “absolute disgrace”, and that “the Rocket League team needs to rethink this decision immediately”.
Neither Psyonix or Epic Games have publicly responded to the backlash.
For more games that you don’t have to spend a penny to play, be sure to take a look at our list of the best free games. You can find even more great game recommendations on our roundup of the best PC games.