The Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) has expanded to include three new regions, which will compete for a slice of the $6million (£4.395million) prize pool.
The RLCS will now include Asia-Pacific North (APAC N), Asia-Pacific South (APAC S) and Middle East and North Africa (MENA), meaning the professional scene will be open to “dozens of new countries”. This includes countries like Japan, India and Saudi Arabia.
In a press event, members of Psyonix explained that the team is “always looking at competitive data to make sure that regions have a competitive pool of players”, adding that “free to play was a huge boost for us” in terms of growing a playerbase across the world. Last September, Rocket League passed 1million concurrent players after going free to play.
Players across all regions will be competing for a total prize pool of $6million across the 2021-22 season, which is divided into Fall, Winter and Spring Splits.
Each split has three regional events and one major, though the format in each split is different. While Fall Split is a 8-team single elimination bracket, Winter Split is a group stage with four groups and a double-elimination bracket. Finally, Spring Split is a classic double-elimination format.
The World Championship takes place over the summer, and will have a brand-new Wildcard event, where teams will compete for places at the World Championship Main Event.
Psyonix also plans to return to live events for RLCS, starting with the Fall major in Stockholm, Sweden this year. While in-person attendance will be limited to players, staff and talent, Psyonix hopes to consider opening events back up to live audiences in 2022.
For a full list of what to expect from the RLCS 2021-2022 season – including full details on the RLCS format changes and more – fans can visit this post on the official Rocket League website.
In other news, all attendees at PGL esports events in 2022 will need to be vaccinated, says PGL CEO Silviu Stroie.
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