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Rocket League devs on the importance of cross-platform play, and a feature that might not make the cut on Switch
Today we found out that Rocket League is coming to Switch on Nov. 14th, and Psyonix is eager to get the game into the hands of fans. They've been working long and hard on this project, as Psyonix’s vice-president, Jeremy Dunham, told the gang at RedBull. It all started with a single question about cross-platform play.
“The very first thing I asked Nintendo when we spoke with them was ‘Will you allow us to do cross platform-play?' and they told us ‘Sure, whatever you need’. The fact there was no hesitation, they told us yes immediately the very first time we asked, was a really good olive branch. It showed us they were serious about Rocket League and the platform, and that we should take them seriously.
We didn’t commit to the platform in that first meeting. Many, many months went by as we started to evaluate what we had to work with as well as our own workflow and ambitions. We wanted to make sure we could actually do it and release on the platform on time and without sacrificing anything. It was only late March or early April of this year that we committed with Nintendo that we were going to do it.
It’s been all hands on deck making sure this runs as smoothly as possible and making sure that people who get it on Switch are happy with it and see very little difference between it and other platforms. In terms of scaling things back, resolution is definitely one thing we had to consider, because the Switch has a different native resolution than the PS4 and Xbox One, and also it doesn't have as much horsepower. The number one thing is it plays well and as for the visual sacrifices we have to make on the platform – we’ll make those as long as people feel like they’re playing Rocket League.”
There is one feature that other versions of Rocket League have that the Switch one may not. According to Dunham, transparent goalposts might not make the cut. The team is working hard to see if there's a way to make it happen, but as of right now, it seems like the feature won't be included.