Epic Games will effectively pull the plug on Fortnite racer Rocket Racing, which was developed by Rocket League maker Psyonix. Less than a year ago, alongside the launch of the free-to-play giant’s fifth chapter, the developer announced a trio of new experiences for the Battle Royale, including the Minecraft-esque LEGO Fortnite and Guitar Hero-inspired Fortnite Festival, transforming the title into its own platform.
But its arcade racer is out of gas – or at least running dangerously low on it. A Reddit update from the development team attempts to disguise the details, but it admits that it will “say goodbye” to themed updates, such as the current Inferno Island. This, to us, suggests there’ll be no new official tracks for the mode, effectively sunsetting it.
Here’s what the post adds: “New tracks from creators are releasing every day so racers always have a different place to drift, flip, and fly. There’s no end to the starting lines you can discover.” So, it sounds like it’ll be relying on community created content moving forwards.
Rocket Racing has always been the least played of Fortnite’s new modes, so we’re not enormously surprised, but it’s somewhat concerning to see Epic Games’ ambitions squashed this early. While we like the arcade racer’s gameplay, we always felt a more simplistic Mario Kart knock-off would have had better success; this game always felt a little too complicated for its own good.
An interesting thing to point out here is the racer arguably had the most expensive microtransactions in Fortnite overall, with many of its vehicles costing a fortune – to the point where Epic Games had to adjust the pricing post-release. Rocket League fans also blame the existence of Rocket Racing and its integration into Fortnite for the removal of that game’s trading system.