With Rocket League's free-to-play launch coming up soon, it's dropping the need for players to have a PlayStation Plus or Nintendo Switch Online membership to play online, but it will still require Xbox players to subscribe to Xbox Live Gold. Rocket League is seemingly doing everything it can to make sure players can access the game completely free of charge, but Xbox will still have to pay a small price.
Rocket League announced it would be going free-to-play on July 21st, 2020, across all platforms. It also announced that it would be leaving Steam on PC to find a new home on the Epic Games Store. This change of scenery allows players to link their Rocket League accounts to their Epic Games accounts, which will then allow for seamless cross-progression across PC and console. Players who have played the game before its free-to-play launch will receive a legacy status and a ton of in-game goodies.
According to a blog post on the official Rocket League website, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch players will no longer be required to subscribe to their console's respective paid online services in order to play Rocket League online. However, the blog has no mention of this exemption for Xbox players. Xbox owners currently have to purchase Xbox Live Gold, which is $15 a month, in order to play certain games online with friends.
When Rocket League will launch as a free-to-play game is still unknown, but the blog post stated that its free-to-play release will follow shortly after an update coming to all platforms in mid-September. Until then, players on consoles will have to continue to pay for their online services to play Rocket League online. Rocket League also plans to roll out a series of new changes that will better acclimate new players to the competitive motor soccer game.
For those who have always wanted to try Rocket League, it seems the wait is almost over. Sadly, Xbox owners won't be able to enjoy the unique car/sports game without shelling out a few bucks for Xbox Live Gold, but this doesn't seem like too big of an issue. Paid online services on each console offer other bonuses aside from access to online games, which is worth investing it for most players anyway. While it is unfortunate that Xbox is the only platform that will require a paid service, it's unlikely that this decision will keep Xbox owners from trying Rocket League if they're really interested.
Source: Rocket League