8 million accounts
Rocket Leaguedeveloper Psyonix is a pretty heart warming story. In business 15 years now, profitable for the last 10 of those, still independent. Had the idea forRocket Leagueas far back as 2008’sSupersonic 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,” likeMass Effect 3andGears 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. RecentlyUniversal and Psyonix agreed to split revenue from sales ofBack to the Future‘s DeLorean whileKnight 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.
