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Rocket League interview: Radicalizing the summer

We speak with Psynoix about Rocket League's summer plans and how fans will find all the new content to be pretty radical.

Chris Jarrard

July 11, 2019 1:25 PM

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Over the years, Rocket has dabbled in licensed content here and there, but with the new Radical Summer event, the development team over at Psyonix is kicking things into overdrive. As part of the big summer celebration, Rocket League is having a limited time event that features new cosmetics from a variety of 80s pop culture icons. We got a chance to speak with Psyonix about the Radical Summer event to get the full story on where these new cosmetics came from and how the fanbase for the game can be grown through capitalizing on nostalgia.

The Radical Summer event runs for a total of nine weeks and began back in the first week of June. One of the headline features for the event is the all-new Spike Rush mode. Taking advantage of the spike powerup from the Rumble mode, Spike Rush grants all participants a powerup that allows a set of spiker to emerge from their rocket-powered cars. Once near the ball, the spikes will trap the ball against the car, allowing the handler to advance towards the opposing team’s goal. The ball carrier will lose access to boosting, while the remaining participants remain with powers intact. While the same basic idea as Rocket League’s standard mode applies, Spike Rush requires players to come up with creative ways to drag the ball into the goal.

Radical Summer also brings along a set of exclusive cosmetics, including new banners, portrait frames, wheels, rocket trails, paint jobs, toppers, and more. The majority of the cosmetics are tied into the romanticized 80s summer theme, with bright neon hues and retro-futuristic style. Some items are available to all players just for signing in, while most of the new licensed cosmetics are purchasable using the limited-time cassette tape currency. After every match in Rocket League played during the Radical Summer event, players will be granted a random number of cassettes. These cassettes can be redeemed for a wide range of cosmetics, including Sloth’s hat from the Goonies, wheels with the Ghostbusters logo, Mr. Miyagi’s headband from The Karate Kid, and much more. 

The event runs through August 12, so if you are pumped up to get your hands on these nostalgia-heavy cosmetics, log into Rocket League today.

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Chris Jarrard

Contributing Tech Editor

Chris Jarrard likes playing games, crankin' tunes, and looking for fights on obscure online message boards. He understands that breakfast food is the only true food. Don't @ him.