It’s finally here. Launched on Tuesday, April 16, Rocket League’s Esports Shop went live after years of requests. Ever since the announcement a few weeks back, fans were eagerly awaiting what kind of items would become available for purchase. Then, with the reveal, the fans’ minds were eased with the news of decals and wheels being offered. But we still hadn’t seen anything. With anticipation, we awaited the Esports Shop on Tuesday. Would the items suffice, or would they sizzle out after years of hyping up the idea?
The good
As announced, just six items were on offer, which resets every 24/48 hours (depending on the item in question). The first items in the Esports Shop were four decals, one set of Dignitas wheels, and a Ghost Gaming banner.
Straight off the bat, the two best North American teams were on offer with Cloud9 and NRG. Both were met with extreme enthusiasm, as were the Splyce and the Evil Geniuses decals. The items went beyond many fans’ expectations, and the first impressions were overwhelmingly positive. If this was to be the standard of the org items, then Psyonix has surely delivered.
All professional players were given a code for their own organization’s items and quickly showed them off on Twitter and Twitch. As expected, the items not yet featured in the shop upheld the same quality. With four sets of wheels per organization and two decals (Octane and Dominus), Psyonix delivered not only high-quality items, but also a high quantity.
The bad
The big downside to the Esport Shop launch was that out of the six items on offer, just one was for an EU team. While this may have been the result of a random selection of items, for the first ever time this went live, perhaps they could have divided a little more fairly. Regardless, things will cycle and the fans will get their chance at their organization’s items soon enough. Renault Vitality’s Alex “Kaydop” Courant was equally unhappy.
5v1 This is not normal 🇪🇺@RocketLeague
— Kaydop 🐝 (@Kaydops) April 16, 2019
Additionally, while pricing is reasonable per organization, fans who want to collect all possible items are looking at a $240 price tag in total. With approximately $22 per organization for all items, the pricing seems reasonable, but those who want all of it will have to reach deeply into their pockets.
And the ugly
Okay, there’s no real ugly. Some of the wheels’ designs look a bit flat and cheap, while others look very slick. Particularly the white wheel designs of TSM, mousesports, and Evil Geniuses are a little boring, while the blue Cloud9 and yellow Dignitas wheels have a very nice-looking animation going on with the colors. Perhaps this is also the case with the white wheels, but it’s difficult to tell from just images and Twitch clips.
On top of that, fans have come to realize that the Cloud9 decal, which is blue and black, seems to be bugged. As shown in PSG’s Emil “Fruity” Moselund’s stream, the decal reveals new details when shown in white instead of black. Or perhaps it’s simply a secondary decal that will become available, as you can also see the logo size changing slightly to accommodate for the text. Does this then mean all organizations will be getting two types of decals?
Esports Shop: The verdict
Overall, Psyonix delivered, especially considering this is a pilot program and more orgs and items are surely on the way. Having seen all designs so far though, we can say that the items live up to the hype. While some items are obviously (and subjectively) better-looking than others, we’re sure there’s something in there for everybody. The question is whether your favorite organization’s items are also the items you like the best. For a collection of screenshots and images of all the revealed items, look no further than /u/James_Tran3’s comment on the Rocket League esports subreddit!
What do you think? Will you be sporting any org items, or are you waiting for the missing teams such as FC Barcelona, PSG, SpaceStation Gaming, and the two unsigned teams in The Bricks (formerly F3) and Triple Trouble to join the Rocket League Esport Shop? Let us know in the comments below!
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