Everything We Know About EA's Rocket Arena and Its Upcoming Shutdown
In a little more than two weeks from now, Electronic Arts is about to pull the plug on Rocket Arena. The multiplayer hero shooter whose journey began as a set of Quake mods before it took on a life of its own in July 2020 has been unfortunately cut short. Given how there wasn’t much noise for the game during its almost 4-year run, its eventual end would seem like a surprise to many. It was also uncharacteristic of EA to quietly bin the game with minimal notice.
It may have not come as a surprise, given the announcement on 14-November-2023 of its subscription service’s removal from Xbox/PC Game Pass and EA Play. This was followed by the removal of the in-game store and paid services. December 2023 also revealed the plan to eventually shut down the game servers on 21 March 2024.
Many of the online sources, or even the publisher itself, were yet to make a statement about why this game is going to be binned. Nevertheless, let’s look into what could be the reasons that led to the eventual announcement in December 2023.
A confused monetization model
A paid live service game meant premium service, constant updates, and proper community support for the players. That was the standard for most Games as a Service titles before 2013. A player has to buy a copy of Rocket Arena at a lower asking price than that of traditional buy-to-play games. It could have been great, but Rocket Arena’s entry to this model was done at a time when several free-to-play titles were offering quality content at no upfront cost. It doesn’t need asking on whether a player is willing to gamble a bit of money for a possibly underwhelming product against something better that is free from the get-go. There were attempts to streamline Rocket Arena using the free-to-play model, but interest was hardly expressed.
Interesting mechanics – but not a lot to use them on
So ditch the hitscan weapons and go for brutal fun in the form of slow-moving doom shells with blast radii. Not only that but also throw in a damage meter that will launch the player out of the battlefield when full – with a chance to slowly empty it by not taking any hits. A lot of crazy plays can be fueled with these systems and it disincentivizes camping: the common bane of active shooters.
That is if there’s anything to play them with.
There wasn’t a lot of spirit thrown into making content for Rocket Arena. This was highlighted by the game not receiving any crucial updates since September 2021. A player can know everything there is to the game in about 20 hours and simply stay for multiplayer mayhem. Even then, there are games that even leaderboards cannot prevent from going stale.
Stagnant game = uninterested players
There were attempts to justify updates for Rocket Arena. It was presented periodically with discounts – even as a free title on various game passes and EA Play. More content attracts more players, but no new content if there are too few newbies.
While it was hailed as a step forward in the hero shooter game type, Rocket Arena could hope to be remembered and perhaps given a new form in future game ideas.
