Rocket League is ditching player-to-player item trading in December
Rocket League developer Psyonix has announced the game will no longer support player-to-trading as of 5th December this year, as the studio moves to «align with Epic's overall approach to game cosmetics and item shop policies».
Trading was first introduced to Rocket League back in 2016, giving players the opportunity to exchange cosmetics dropped at the end of matches — perhaps unwanted items or duplicates — with other players or even third-party trading sites. Notably, premium DLC could not be traded.
From 4pm PST on 5th December this year, however, player-to-player trading will be removed from the game. Explaining the change in a post to its website, Psyonix — which was acquired by Epic Games in 2019 — insisted this would align Rocket League with Epic's «overall approach to game cosmetics and item shop policies, where items aren't tradable, transferrable, or sellable.»
It added, rather unconvincingly, «This opens up future plans for some Rocket League vehicles to come to other Epic games over time, supporting cross-game ownership.»
Psyonix notes unwanted or duplicate Core Items, Tournament Items, and Blueprints can still be traded via Rocket League's in-game system to receive a random new item of higher rarity, even though player-to-player trading will no longer be possible. Additionally, items acquired through player-to-player trading won't be lost when the new rules come into play in December.
Today's announcement follows Epic's decision to lay off around 830 employees — approximately 16% of its total workforce — a move Epic CEO Tim Sweeney insisted would «stabilise our financing» after admitting, «For a while now, we've been spending way more money than we earn».
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