While everybody (or almost everybody) in the country is obsessed with Counter Strike and DOTA, some players have decided to take up a new form of e-sport called Rocket League, which is basically soccer with cars (imagine playing a game of soccer using remote-controlled cars)? They remained isolated, while trying to get organized, even streaming competitive events like community cups and tournaments online on Twitch, as well as organizing meetups so that players get to know each other properly. Their seclusion from mainstream gaming, combined with a lack of recognition from the developers themselves made things tougher than they were.
Things started changing when Eric Majka, the lead artist working for Psyonix Studios on Rocket League saw one of the streams, and tweeted about it.
I admittedly didn't even know we had a big following in India! How awesome! https://t.co/4GYQTxTNo6
— Eric Majka (@eric_majka) September 16, 2017
An official of Psyonix watching Twitch streams of players playing in a Community Cup in a niche gaming community such as the one in India? That is success. Eric even took care to reply to my tweet!
@theIndianNoob @eric_majka Rocket League the next Indian e-sport? Hell yeah! https://t.co/pgnjz5NtYM
— Arkadyuti Bandyopadhyay (@Sephiroth9696) September 19, 2017
Recognition by Psyonix means Twitch cannot afford to keep silent, considering that their platform was used for streaming the Community Cups for Rocket League online. Perhaps with a little nudge from Psyonix, Twitch has officially partnered with the Rocket League Indian community for streaming of their tournaments and all other events online!
This is a big achievement in a country where gaming is still recognized as a waste of time, and where even among the gaming community, the only recognizable e-sports are Counter Strike : Global Offensive and DOTA 2.
We at Indian Noob congratulate the Rocket League Indian community, and hope that their future endeavors meet with success.