How Many People Play Rocket League in 2023? (User & Growth Stats)
Rocket League is one of the biggest and most well-loved free-to-play games in the world to date, and for a ton of good reasons – this incredible game incorporates a ton of iconic aspects all into one simple package. But, with it being out for quite a few years now, just how many people still play Rocket League actively?
Active Player reports an average of 87,502,590 players within the last 30 days and an average of just under 90 million players over the past few months. Rocket League has an estimated 774,380 active players at the time of writing.
It’s no surprise that Rocket League has gained such an astounding player count throughout its run, but the estimated numbers still leave gamers wondering if the game’s popularity is on the rise or decline. Stick around to find out just how many people still play Rocket League, and how the game’s player counts have shifted over time.
Rocket League
Rocket League is a soccer-inspired game developed and released by Psyonix in 2015, with a format based on high-tech and overpowered vehicles. It is a sequel to Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars (SARPBC), a game released in 2008 that was exclusive to PlayStation 3.
In Rocket League, up to four players are assigned to 2 teams (4v4) that use supersonic rocket-powered type vehicles. The intention is to use the supersonic vehicle to hit a giant ball into the opponent’s soccer goal. Landing a successful hit will score points over the duration of each round, with each round lasting 5 minutes.
But, players can enjoy playing single-player mode as well, leaving plenty of room for option and enjoyment in going up against computer-controlled opponents. Considering that Rocket League is playable on numerous platforms, it’s definitely been made pretty easy to access and kick-off.
Rocket League is available on the following platforms:
- PlayStation 4
- PlayStation 5
- Xbox
- Wii
- Nintendo Switch
- Windows
- Android (Rocket League Sideswipe)
Later updates and versions opened up Rocket League even further by allowing cross-platform play between all available versions of the game. These features are in addition to the inclusion of new game modes such as ice hockey (known as Snow Day) or basketball (known as Hoops), over and above the classic soccer mode.
It offers a fun and well-balanced combination of some of the most infamous genres in games to date – adrenaline-pumping sports, the variety between a single-player or multiplayer mode, and some high-tech monstrous vehicles. Rocket League has even been adopted as an official Esport in competitions and has earned numerous industry awards throughout the course of its running.
How Many People Play Rocket League In 2023?
It is important to note that there have been a couple of influences on Rocket League’s player counts over the years. To be specific, there were a few changes or events that most likely had a direct impact on the Rocket League player count – either within the same timeframe or from that point forward.
Some of the most notable influences and their timeframes have been detailed below:
Timeframe | Rocket League Event or Change | Influence on Player Count |
2016 | PlayStation Plus Giveaway | Led to over 5 million Rocket League downloads |
September 2020 | Rocket League became free-to-play | Led to over 1 million concurrent players in the same month |
November 2021 | Rocket League Sideswipe was released (Smartphone version) | Led to between 50,000 and 100,000 concurrent players on average towards the end of 2021 |
This is in addition to the fact that Rocket League was ranked #31 on Twitch as of January 2023. Twitch viewers have watched around 1,417,503 hours in the past week of Rocket League, and the average number of concurrent Rocket League viewers on Twitch fluctuates around 8,446.
Active Player reports an astounding average of 87,502,590 players within the last 30 days, with an estimated 774,380 active players at the time of writing. At the same time, Player Counter reports a fairly low player count for Rocket League, only reporting 53,488 active players at the time of writing.
Similarly, Steam Charts also has a low player count report for Rocket League. Although there is a rather large gap between these reported play counts, the range does still give insight into Rocket League’s overall player count.
Rocket League Player Count Stats
According to Steam Charts, Rocket League currently has an average of 26,155.4 players as of January 2023, with an estimated 13,824 players at the time of writing. This reported player count is much, much lower than the player counts reported by other sources within the same timeframes.
Below are the reported player counts for Rocket League in 2022, according to Steam Charts:
Month | Avg. Rocket League Players | Gain/ Loss | Peak Players |
Last 30 days | 26,155.4 | +1.93% | 48,788 |
December 2022 | 25,661.1 | +14.56% | 47,865 |
November 2022 | 22,399.7 | -2.87% | 42,310 |
October 2022 | 23,062.3 | -8.00% | 42,316 |
September 2022 | 25,067.3 | +7.64% | 47,310 |
August 2022 | 23,287.7 | -4.36% | 40,607 |
It is worth noting that while Steam Charts does have an active player count for Rocket League, Rocket League was delisted from Steam – a possible reason for such low player counts. Considering the game’s delisting from Steam, it may be safe to say that the active Rocket League player count reported by Steam Charts may not be completely accurate (relatively speaking).
Active Player reports having accumulated its data and stats from a wide range of sources, which may likely amount to more accurate numbers considering the fact that Rocket League is cross-platform supportive. Active Player’s Rocket League player count report for 2023 is as follows:
Month | Avg. Rocket League Players | Gain/ Loss | Peak Players (In a Day) |
Last 30 Days | 87,502,590 | -0.58% | 5,833,506 |
December 30, 2022 | 86,995,014 | -0.27% | 5,799,668 |
November 30, 2022 | 87,233,560 | -0.20% | 5,815,571 |
October 30, 2022 | 87,055,456 | -0.23% | 5,803,697 |
September 30, 2022 | 86,855,016 | -0.06% | 5,211,301 |
August 30, 2022 | 86,908,870 | -0.25% | 5,214,532 |
Despite the fact that Rocket League seems to be slowly losing players as each month goes by, a broader perspective may tell a different story. Rocket League only had approximately 40-50 million players throughout 2019, spiking in popularity and player count from 2020 into 2021.
This still nets Rocket League with way more players than the game originally had after its launch and throughout its early stages. It’s not unusual for gamers to start off a new game and stop playing shortly after beginning.
For example, Rocket League saw a count gain of 17,598,750 players back in May 2020 but lost 10,394,093 players in June 2022 – possibly meaning that Rocket League lost most of the same players who started off in May. The game still has around 40-50 million more players than it did back in 2018 and 2019.
The above report shows that the maximum amount of players actively playing Rocket League each day has slowly grown over the past couple of years. The game has now reached a steady figure or range fluctuating around 5 million daily players and just under 100 million monthly players.
While Player Counter‘s current and active player count is fairly low considering other sources’ reports, they do report that Rocket League gained around 40,000,000 players at the beginning of 2018, which coincides with Active Player‘s reports as seen above. This amounted to around 6,000,000 in sales around the same time.
Player Counter reports that the top five countries currently playing Rocket League are as follows:
Rank | Top Country Playing Rocket League | % of Total Player Count |
1 | United States | 23.95% |
2 | Germany | 7.54% |
3 | United Kingdom | 6.39% |
4 | France | 5.11% |
5 | Brazil | 5.01% |
Why Is Rocket League So Popular?
It’s really no surprise that so many people love playing Rocket League, despite the fact that the game has already been out for so many years. The game has a ton of fun and excitement to offer gamers worldwide, topped with easy access and simple entry with a variety of platform and mode options.
This amazing game is now free-to-play, meaning gamers do not need to spend a single penny to play it. However, the original pay-to-play players were granted ‘Legacy’ status, topped with numerous boosts and cosmetic items in-game as compensation for the switch.
When the game was made free-to-play, it was moved from Steam to the Epic Games Store, which did bring quite a few questions at the time. Still, Rocket League is pretty simple and easy to learn, while still offering the excitement of mastery with enjoyable challenges.
In addition to its straightforward yet addictive model, the game is also crossplay supportive. This factor could very well have contributed to its large player counts, as gamers from multiple platforms can enjoy Rocket League together.
According to Epic games, around 93% of critics would recommend Rocket League to gamers worldwide. The game has received a steady 4.5 rating overall, and it seems that although the game is not necessarily going through a hype phase in 2022, it certainly isn’t dying either.
While Rocket League has seen plenty of spikes and dips in its overall player count over the years, the game still appears to have a rather large, dedicated, and committed audience that doesn’t seem to be leaving anytime soon. If you’ve been curious about Rocket League and want to give it a shot, the timing couldn’t be better.