Mousesports has followed in the footsteps of Cloud9 and Veloce Esports. After two years, the organization has announced its departure from the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) and the competitive Rocket League scene as a whole. And while they did specifically say “for now,” the message is clear: Psyonix needs to make changes if it doesn’t want organizations to leave en masse.
Who’s next?
It is no secret that Psyonix is struggling with keeping Rocket League‘s professional scene afloat. The RLCS may be doing just fine for now, but the fact that three organizations jumped ship in just one off-season speaks volumes. Organizations are not happy.
Mousesports’ departure comes after the letter that was sent to Psyonix by a host of organizations voicing their grievances with how the professional Rocket League scene is being handled, from monetization to slot ownership and prize money distribution. Both Mouz and Veloce were part of this group and still ended up leaving the scene entirely. Unlike Cloud9, however, Mouz did not publicly state the reason for leaving.
Cloud9 recently commented on the letter in a Reddit AMA, explaining that it mostly agreed with its contents and that Psyonix does seem to be making efforts to make improvements. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem enough to keep Cloud9 and Mousesports on board for now. Cloud9 CEO Jack Etienne, however, remains open-minded: “If I see solid progress I’ll return. I’d need to see things improve quite a bit though from what I experienced.”
RLCS to receive an overhaul?
Etienne’s comment specifically refers to the allegedly leaked overhaul that Psyonix is planning for the RLCS. Rather than two world championships that are preceded by a league play portion per year, Psyonix proposed to go the way of the circuits with point-based systems spread out over regional events, which determine who will end up at the world championships once per year.
The overhaul shows that Psyonix is looking to improve the RLCS, but none of the complaints from the organizations have been addressed. Whether changes can stop the rest of the organizations to follow Cloud9, Veloce, and Mousesports remains to be seen.
