Own Goal: Psyonix To Kill Linux & macOS Support For Rocket League

There are many reasons to love Rocket League, but for PC gamers not using Windows, the game’s support of macOS and Linux has been one of the biggest ones. Most Rocket League history is filled with great vibes, because up to a point, it seemed like it was a series that couldn’t reach a plateau. The developers hit the mark time and time again, and fans were more than happy to reciprocate their love for the game by snatching up in-game paid items to further development.

We’d imagine that very few people would have thought that supporting their favorite game would lead to the ultimate cancellation of it on two operating systems – but that’s exactly what we’re seeing here. In a new post, developer Psyonix says that it’s too difficult to keep on top of technical upgrades to be able to support macOS and Linux. Read another way, this could be taken to mean that its parent company, Epic, simply has no plans to release its game store client on either of those OSes. It’s widely assumed that at some point, Rocket League will make the move to EGS, and move off of Steam entirely. This current move of killing support for Linux and macOS adds some fuel to that.

There’s probably not much we can say here that isn’t obvious. Rocket League has always been about openness. It’s one of the few games that fought the fight for crossplay, allowing gamers to compete against one another on different platforms. The fact you could play the game on basically any platform has always been a major selling point. You can now move between platforms and retain progress. Yet, here we are, seeing the death of support for two operating systems at the same time.

On the official support page, Psyonix says that macOS gamers could consider installing Windows via Apple’s own Boot Camp method. That’s fine and dandy for people who don’t mind installing an entirely different OS for a single game, but it’s hardly convenient for most. On the Linux side, running the Windows game through Valve’s Proton in Steam should work for most people, but many online have commented that running the game this way can add input lag, which is the opposite of what you want in a competitive game.

From its blog post:

As we continue to upgrade Rocket League with new technologies, it is no longer viable for us to maintain support for the macOS and Linux (SteamOS) platforms. As a result, the final patch for the macOS and Linux versions of the game will be in March. This update will disable online functionality (such as in-game purchases) for players on macOS and Linux, but offline features including Local Matches, and splitscreen play will still be accessible.

While parts of this can be read to mean that online competitive play could potentially be possible, the “such as in-game purchases” should really read “everything online you’d want”, because online play is in fact canned, per the already linked support page. Ultimately, the game will be dead for most who own it on either of these OSes, and it’s really quite sad to see it from a game that has historically only ever improved its level of support.