‘Rocket League is dead’ is trending, but is it the end of the road for Soccar?

Amid an influx of bots and the dreaded DDoS, the rallying cries have come from Rocket League’s most prestigious players, begging for help. ‘Rocket League is dead,’ they scream.

With such a simple concept (car hits ball and dragons come flying out of the goal while eggs dance in celebration in the crowd), Rocket League doesn’t have much road to drive on. But while it’s been cruising on a straight for years, evenly poised and balanced, 2025 has brought forward many speed bumps, and the crash barriers are quickly approaching.

But is it truly curtains for Soccar? 

Why is ‘Rocket League is dead’ trending?

Led by the AAA trio of French era-leading phenoms Alexandre “Kaydop” Courant, Axel “Vatira” Touret, and Alexis “zen” Bernier, social media for Rocket League has erupted with phrases like ‘unplayable’ and ‘beginning of the end’ being brandished.

Essientally, the game might be on the way out. At least some bigger names among players are starting to say so.

At the top of the gripes is the constant DDoS issues. It’s rampant across the upper echelons of Ranked play. With people attacking the servers for free wins. Those playing in Grand Champion and SSL specifically claim half of their games are being hit with frequent server attacks. 

Previous attempts from Epic Games to thwart these malware abusers have been futile, too. The devs released a blog post detailing that wins will no longer be awarded to those benefiting from disconnecting lobbies (although they wouldn’t lose either).

“1 of 2 games is DDOSING or BOT/DDOS, it’s out of control right there on Rocket League,” Kaydop wrote. 

“I think this might be the beginning of the end of the ranked.”

Most surprising was the take from zen, as the 17-year-old superstar has already become ‘tired’. If one of the youngest icons in the game is already growing wearisome, you can only imagine how hard it is affecting the older players.

“I’m just tired of this game. We can’t even grind, and we have RLCS tomorrow! It’s good to release updates, but if the update is not working, you need to be more reactive to ban,” he wrote on X.

But there has been a response. 

Epic Responds

In a statement released on X (Twitter), the publishers announced a crackdown on the sheer volume of DDoS attackers, which had evolved from a ‘drizzle to a flood’ in the past year.

In response, Epic revealed a three-pronged attack typical of the best Rocket League teams. Bigger networks with absorbent servers, real-time defence, and reactive bans will be ramped up to help protect lobbies. The team also announced a 5,500-player ban wave, which took care of bots, for now. 

Still, there’s no eliminating the problem long-term. It leaves Epic Games with two options. The game might not be dead yet, but maybe the life support machine might be turned off.

Does Epic Games ballchase or demo?

At the pinnacle of Rocket League, two aggressive playstyles are a nuisance to other players, which, at lower ranks, would get you a stern message in Chat.

Demolishing and ballchasing.

Epic Games now faces a conundrum. Does it adopt the ballchasing playstyle and continue banging the drum in hopes that it can fend off DDoS attacks once and for all, and continue with its current game? Or, does it demo Rocket League as we know it and finally pull the trigger on the Fortnite amalgamation?

In its statement, Epic suggested that it was going to chase the ball and get the game into a place where it can thrive again. “Some attacks will slip through the cracks as methods evolve. When these things happen, players pay the price, but we will be on it,” it said.

Yet in the wider scope of things, more issues could be solved if Rocket League dies and is reborn.

Many players are skeptical of the rumours that RL could be ported inside Fortnite. But no matter what side of the fence you sit on, one major benefit would be the DDoS defence that the battle royale gets. While the title is prone to getting similar server attacks, they’re nowhere near as frequent, and that might be as a result of the lawsuits. 

Earlier this year, the publishers took legal action against two individuals who carried out cyber attacks on content creators and lobbies they were playing in. A YouTuber known as Zebsi released a public statement admitting to the DDoS attacks, as Epic banned them from Fortnite for life. Not an uncommon outcome for bigger name Fortnite cheaters right now.

It’s a statement that would carry over if Rocket League stepped into the Fortnite universe, which is already substantially more secure than the game we know now. Maybe blowing up the title could be the ticket to a steady and secure game, everything else aside.