Rocket League developer Psyonix has committed an extra $250,000 to the prize pool for the game’s regional tournaments in lieu of the Rocket League World Championships being cancelled last week.
Psyonix announced that the Rocket League Season 9 World Championship would not be going ahead amid growing concerns surrounding the spread of coronavirus. Set to happen April 24-26 in Dallas, Texas, the tournament was meant to be the biggest competitive event in Rocket League’s calendar year. At the time of announcement, Psyonix stated it was looking into an alternative way of capping off the season.
As is reported in The Esports Observer, that alternative is to make each of the regional competitions that much greater by increasing the pay-out each offers participants. The four regional championships will have a quarter of a million dollars split between them – $100,000 is going to both the European and North American Regionals, and Ocenia and South America will both receive an extra $25,000. All scheduled streams and competitive happenings outside the World Championship are to go ahead as planned.
Psyonix is taking precautions for its weekly shows, however, with the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday streaming segments now being produced remotely by all involved, rather than in-studio together.
Psyonix also plans to hold more regional tournaments in an online capacity to keep fans’ interest in Rocket League esports.
“Just because there won’t be a World Championship doesn’t mean the world’s most exciting esport comes to a stop,” a statement reads. “We are working on a plan to bring you live online regional tournaments in the coming months that will continue to deliver the top-flight, high-intensity professional Rocket League you’ve come to expect.”
2020 is set to be a big year for Rocket League, as it will be played as part of The Intel World Open Olympics event in Tokyo in July. Qualifiers are to take place in May, and the Olympic rule-set leaked revealing the formatting prospective esports Olympians can expect.
