The cooperative shooter Rocket Arena that was shown at EA Play this year is struggling to get players. It would be a matter of time before it becomes free to play.
Following the success of Overwatch and Counter Striker: Global Offensive, it is normal that every company wants to have its own hero shooter. But they forget that they enter a saturated market and you can only stand out if you have a reputation, such as Valorant which comes from Riot Games. That is what Electronic Arts is seeing with its shooter Rocket Arena, which is suffering the perfect storm of bad marketing and seems to be on its way to becoming a free game after its failure to gain followers and sales.
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It did not interest anyone and now it is a failure
Many of us will remember the game having seen it on the EA Play broadcast, a broadcast that was broadcast in replacement of the E3 era. Many dismissed it because experience has already shown us that these types of games require community and ongoing support. We have the recent example of Crucible being ostracized within a few weeks of its release, and we can go back to Battleborne.
The game had been rescued by Electronic Arts after being abandoned by Nexon. It looked like it was going to be in some health but Electronic Arts didn't promote it for Rocket Arena before its release. Possibly they hoped to repeat the play of Apex Legends to launch an unpromoted game and have people come in out of curiosity.
But they ignore that you had to pay 30 euros or dollars to play. The result? Shortly after its launch, developers were legally giving away keys, and the retail price is now five euros or dollars. A figure so low that we imagine that at best it only covers distribution and physical format in the best of cases. It is a huge failure as it has been commercializing and it is most likely that within a few months Rocket Arena will end up being free to play.
