8 million accounts
Rocket League developer Psyonix is a pretty heart warming story. In business 15 years now, profitable for the last 10 of those, still independent. Had the idea for Rocket League as far back as 2008’s Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, but it sold poorly. How do you fix that? That’s exposure, marketing; not that your game was bad.
Rocket League, released this year, took two years and $2 million. Psyonix, “paid the bills by working on some of the biggest games in the industry,” like Mass Effect 3 and Gears of War. Deciding to partner for a free release on PlayStation Plus ended up going great, generating way more word of mouth this time around and accounting for a non-specific “several million” free downloads that went a long way towards the eight million total PC and PlayStation accounts that exist now. It’s coming to Xbox One, too.
And so $2 million spent in development with revenue nearing $50 million, or 25 times the initial investment, for a dang good game. Recently Universal and Psyonix agreed to split revenue from sales of Back to the Future‘s DeLorean while Knight Rider‘s KITT may be on the way. But it’s still a heck of a time for someone like me who hasn’t spent a dime on DLC. Good job, Psyonix. I remember when I made my first $50 million. It’s gratifying.
How ‘Rocket League’ Became 2015′s Surprise Videogame Hit [Wall Street Journal]