Pour one out for Rocket Arena, whose price just got dropped down to please buy me levels

It’s fine to not like a game or to be entirely uninterested in one, but man does my heart still bleed for the people who make these products. Imagine pouring literal years into a project, only to be met with a wall of indifference once the game finally releases. Rocket Arena is one such example, a game that is completely fine at best, but has almost no audience willing to invest in its rocket-powered elimination matches.

It’s a pity, because the 3V3 hero shooter has some solid ideas and I love the direction that it went in for its missile mania. Rocket Arena is unfortunately hamstrung by being too chaotic in action and awkward controls, which could also explain why no one wants to play it. A quick glance over at the Steam charts reveals that the game peaked with 1102 players when it launched in July, and struggles to have even half that number a month later. On PS4 and Xbox One, I’d wager that similar numbers are doing the rounds.

EA has, without much fuss, dropped the price of Rocket Arena down to a mere $5 across all platforms, so as to drive some interest back into the game and start growing its community as developer Final Strike Games intended to. On paper, Rocket Arena should have succeeded at this, but the hard truth is that a decently-produced game is no competition for established players in the live service market.

Asking a potential fanbase to shell out some cash for Rocket Arena when the likes of Fortnite, Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone are all free alternatives, was sadly never going to be a winning formula.

Last Updated: September 1, 2020