A Decade Later, PS Plus Keeps Failing To Replicate Its Biggest Hit

PlayStation Plus continues to be a mostly worthwhile service, especially for those who prefer to play online. It feels almost necessary at this point, yet it is hard to deny that it doesn’t offer quite the same value proposition as its direct competitor, Xbox Game Pass. That’s not inherently an issue, especially as there are a lot of factors surrounding Xbox Game Pass’ ridiculous value, such as Microsoft’s seemingly bottomless wallet and the fact that it may not be earning the company much money compared to how much it’s losing on getting games on the service.

However, that wasn’t always the case, as PlayStation Plus was once on top thanks, in large part, to its biggest hit. While there are plenty of great PlayStation Plus games you can play right now, none have ever come quite as close as the service’s best day-one title, a game that was the perfect balance of fun and community-driven, that got enough people talking about it, and thus, plenty of new subscribers for the service. Despite attempting to replicate that success numerous times, PlayStation Plus has never quite managed to recapture the magic.

Rocket League Was The Perfect Day-One PS Plus Game

It Was The Ultimate Multiplayer Title For The Service

Rocket League was an enormous success when it launched, primarily because it was free on PlayStation Plus. A game like Rocket League was a bit unprecedented in 2015. Its multiplayer-focused, arcadey gameplay model was complemented by it ostensibly being one of the first live service games on the market. Of course, that term hadn’t been popularized then, with the former vice president of developer Psyonix, Jeremy Dunham, referring to it as a “live project” in a 2016 interview with Forbes. By 2016, 42% of the game’s player base were on PlayStation, with 36% playing via Steam, and 22% on Xbox.

That distribution of players proved that the word of mouth it garnered from its time as a free game on PS Plus was hugely successful in convincing people on other platforms to pay for it. This was likely partially thanks to its live service model delivering free DLC-sized expansions, which had players returning to the game and encouraging their friends to pick it up and thus pay for it. By 2016, Rocket League had made $110 million and would go on to make a substantial amount more, even once it went F2P and abandoned Steam.

But its initial success, its first few chart-topping days as a free release on PlayStation Plus, was as a result of its engaging, content-rich gameplay loop, the simplicity of its premise, and the ease of playing together. It was also released at a time before live service games were overwhelming the industry and becoming every developer and publisher’s object of desire. The novelty of a game that continued development post-launch, and the content released during that period being some of its best and most substantial was almost certainly a factor in the enormous success of Rocket League.

The PS4 had only been out for over a year by 2015 and was already hugely successful, having sold over 35 million units according to Statista. PS Plus was also only five years old and was slowly establishing its identity. The popularity of the PlayStation, the novelty of Rocket League’s live service design, coupled with its exceptional gameplay, and the relative freshness of PS Plus, coalesced to make it a smashing success, and easily one of the best games on PS Plus. That is also why, despite attempting to replicate its success, it remains PS Plus’ greatest exclusive.

FBC: Firebreak Lacks Rocket League’s Unique Appeal

It Hasn’t Captured Audiences In The Same Way

All of this context about how amazing Rocket League was is necessary to understand why FBC: Firebreak is hugely disappointing. It is PlayStation Plus’ most recent attempt at recapturing the multiplayer magic that Rocket League offered nearly a decade ago, which, like all of its other attempts, has seemingly failed. There are plenty of reasons why, but, most crucially, players are simply not resonating with FBC: Firebreak in the way that its developer, Remedy Entertainment, was likely hoping, let alone Sony.

FBC: Firebreak is releasing at what feels like the tail end of the popularity of live service games, with players having long since soured on them. It comes off the back of several other Left 4 Dead 2 clones, like Back 4 Blood, Earthfall, The Anacrusis, World War Z, and more, making it yet another entry into a somewhat stuffed genre that still hasn’t had an entry as good as its progenitor. Of course, it is also developer Remedy’s first foray into multiplayer gaming, which, naturally, brings with it plenty of risks.

All of this won’t help FBC: Firebreak stand out, but that doesn’t mean it was destined to fail. After all, Rematch, a live-service football game by the developers of the very single-player-focused Sifu, was released to critical success and huge sales. So, the factors surrounding FBC: Firebreak’s development aren’t exclusively the reason it is sitting on “Mostly Negative” reviews on Steam. That boils down to the fact that Firebreak just isn’t very fun. It doesn’t utilize Control’s fascinating world enough, it doesn’t have enough variety, and the levels it does offer are fine, at best.

PS Plus Can’t Compare With Game Pass Day-One Releases

The Quality & Quantity Isn’t There

However, perhaps we shouldn’t be all that surprised that a multiplayer game releasing for free on PlayStation Plus is somewhat doomed to fail. That has largely been the platform’s modus operandi for the past decade as it has desperately attempted to replicate the success of Rocket League. One only has to look at PlayStation Plus’ ill-fated day-one releases of the past five years to see how deeply unsuccessful it has been. Naturally, few will likely remember or have played Destruction AllStars, First Class Trouble, Arcadegeddon, Meet Your Maker, Foamstars, Harry Potter: Quiddich Champions, and Death Note: Killer Within.

Related

10 Best RPGs On PlayStation Plus Right Now (2025)

There are some incredible RPGs available on PlayStation Plus right now, and it’s hard to believe games like Fallout 4 and Skyrim are free for members.

Now, I don’t want to cherry-pick, as PlayStation Plus did get one other strong multiplayer-focused day-one exclusive that came close to rivaling Rocket League, which was Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout. It also got a number of decent single-player-focused titles, like Stray and Tchia. However, largely, PS Plus has struggled to offer a game as successful and compelling as Rocket League, as well as really anything remotely resembling the ridiculously impressive output on Game Pass. Since its inception, PS Plus has failed to offer the same value as Game Pass, especially in the realm of day-one exclusives.

Naturally, there is a lot of nuance to this topic, namely surrounding Microsoft’s seemingly limitless budget compared to Sony’s. There is simply not enough money there to get the big titles that Xbox Game Pass is drawing in, a service that, while Microsoft claims is profitable, has existed during a time of immense layoffs within the company and the closure of several of its studios, including the successful Tango Gameworks. However, as much as money is certainly a factor, PlayStation also routinely picks bad games to put on the service.

Destruction AllStars and Foamstars both proved enormous flops and were simply not worth putting on there. FBC: Firebreak, even despite its extensive 2025 roadmap, will likely go the same way, potentially even going down the free-to-play route like other PS Plus games, including Rocket League, Fall Guys, and Arcadegeddon. As much as many wish that PlayStation Plus would be able to replicate its Rocket League success all these years later, it simply hasn’t and seemingly cannot, as evidenced by the slew of poorly performing titles like FBC: Firebreak, as unfortunate as that is.

Source: Forbes, Statista

Rocket League

Systems

Released

July 7, 2015

ESRB

E for Everyone: Mild Lyrics

Developer(s)

Psyonix

Publisher(s)

Psyonix

Engine

Unreal Engine 3