Everything about Final Strike Games’ new hero shooter Rocket Arena screams free-to-play, and yet, publisher Electronic Arts tried to sell the game for $30 at launch. That didn’t exactly go over well. According to SteamDB, the game didn’t manage to break 1000 concurrent PC players on launch day and is now hovering around 100 players. No, not 100 thousand. Just 100. Twitch viewers have been similarly flat.
Well, it seems Rocket Arena won’t be a premium game for much longer – just over two weeks after the game’s dismal launch, EA is already offering a free weekend on Xbox One and Steam. Meanwhile, subscribers to EA Access or Origin Access can permanently download the full game for free. Get the platform-by-platform details below.
- Microsoft Xbox’s Free Play Days program - Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members can enjoy the game for free beginning today until August 2 at 11:59pm PT.
- Steam - Steam users can play the game for free today at 10am PT until August 3 at 10am PT.
- EA Access & Origin Access - EA Access & Origin Access members will be able to download the full standard edition of Rocket Arena for free beginning tomorrow, July 31 at 8am PT. Members will also score an exclusive Epic Mysteen Outfit as soon as they log into the game.
EA is trying to sell this as a “limited time” thing, but let’s be real – this game is going fully free-to-play sooner rather than later. Soooo, what if you’re one of those chumps that actually paid $30 for Rocket Arena? EA is offering these “pioneers” 3000 units of the game’s premium Rocket Fuel currency, as well as an animated outfit for each of the game’s 10 characters.
So, is Rocket Arena worth trying out this weekend? Wccftech’s Kai Powell found it to be a promising, but somewhat confused, hero shooter…
Rocket Arena might have some explosive potential as a casual 3v3 competitive shooter, but the bright and colorful aesthetics and gameplay where no one dies and everyone's a winner clash with the game's reliance on both twitch and precision aiming.
Rocket Arena is available now on PC, Xbox One, and PS4.
