Ford and Psyonix have announced a collaboration which will see the car manufacturer sponsor the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) Winter Majors and bring the Ford F-150 into Rocket League as the fifth real-world, playable battle-car.
The duo will celebrate the partnership with a new esports event, the Ford + Rocket League Freestyle Invitational. Psyonix will invite so-called “freestylers” to showcase their creative and highly mechanical plays in front of a jury to compete for a real 2021 Ford F-150. The event will be held ahead of the North American Winter Major Grand Finals later this month. Psyonix said it will share more details on the event, such as competitors, judges and hosts, at a later date.
Ford enters Rocket League
With premium items exclusive to the Ford F-150, the item pack will be available through the in-game shop for 1500 credits, or about $15. The price is a steep increase from previous licensed downloadable content, which used to hover around $2 to $3 before Epic Games acquired developer Psyonix. The Rocket League community on Reddit expressed confusion and frustration over the announcement.
As opposed to previous licensed DLC, the Ford F-150 battle-car will be customizable with both its own new items and existing, non-licensed items. There is a gallery of the items on the official announcement page. Psyonix Community Lead Devin Connors confirmed on Reddit that the car will use an Octane hitbox, the most commonly used hitbox by professional Rocket League players.
While the Ford F-150 is the fifth real-world car to enter Rocket League as a playable car (not including fictional cars such as Batman’s Batmobiles and ’99 Nissan Skyline GT-R R34), not all licensed content is currently available. Whereas the Nissan Skyline was initially available permanently and then removed after item shop changed, the Ford F-150 will be available for a limited time right from the start.
The Ford F-150 enters Rocket League on Feb. 20 and will remain available in the shop for a week. The Ford + Rocket League Freestyle Invitational will be held during the Feb. 24 and Feb. 28 North American RLCS Winter Major.
