Rocket League Championship Series facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Rocket League Championship Series
Genre	Rocket League tournament
Location(s)	Various
Years active	2016–present
Inaugurated	Season 1 (2016)
Most recent	2025
Organized by	Psyonix (2016–2023) Blast ApS (2024–present)
2025 Rocket League Championship Series

The Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) is a big yearly competition for the video game Rocket League. It's like the World Cup for Rocket League players! This tournament is put on by Blast ApS, with help from Psyonix, who made the game. Teams from all over the world play online to earn points. These points help them get into bigger tournaments called Majors and the Rocket League World Championship. These big events are held live, where players compete in person.

History of RLCS

How RLCS Started

Back in early 2016, Psyonix noticed that Rocket League games were super popular. Lots of people were watching them on Twitch and YouTube. So, Psyonix decided to make the game even bigger in the world of esports. Esports means competitive video gaming.

In March 2016, Psyonix announced the very first Rocket League Championship Series. The final games happened in June 2016. The winners, a team called iBUYPOWER Cosmic, took home a prize of $55,000!

The second season of RLCS happened in December 2016. The prize money grew to $125,000. This time, FlipSid3 Tactics won the championship. A third season started in March 2017. Its finals were three months later, with a huge $300,000 prize pool. For the first time, teams from the Oceanic region (like Australia and New Zealand) were invited to play.

Growing the Competition

In Season 4, a new league was added called the Rocket League Rival Series (RLRS). It was like a second division. At the end of each season, the bottom teams from RLCS and the top teams from RLRS would play each other. This decided if teams would move up to RLCS or down to RLRS.

For Season 5 in June 2018, Psyonix took over organizing the event all by themselves. Before this, they worked with Twitch. Season 6 started in September 2018 and had an amazing $1,000,000 prize pool!

In Season 7, Psyonix added South America as a new region for teams to compete from. Season 8 took place in December 2019.

Changes and New Formats

The Season 9 championship was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the winners of the regional championships were named the champions.

In July 2020, Psyonix announced a new way to play for the tenth season, called RLCS X. This new format got rid of the old league play and the RLRS. Instead, teams earned points through three regional "splits." Each split ended with a big tournament called a "seasonal major."

The 2021–22 season began in October 2021. It brought in four new regions: Middle East and North Africa, Asia Pacific North, Asia Pacific South, and Sub-Saharan Africa. This season had a huge $6 million prize pool! The new system had three splits. Each split had three regional events and one international live event (LAN major). The season ended with a World Championship. Team BDS won this season.

For the 2022–23 season, Asia Pacific North and Asia Pacific South joined together into one region. The points teams earned were changed, and each regional event was called the Open, Cup, or Invitational. Team Vitality won this season.

Recent Seasons and Updates

After the 2022-23 season, there was a longer break than usual. One of the splits was removed. This meant the 13th season of the RLCS didn't start until January 26, 2024.

The 2024 season changed how teams qualified. Instead of the Open, Cup, and Invitational system, there were three new open qualifying stages. These included a double-elimination bracket, a Swiss-system tournament for the top 16 teams, and a knockout stage for the top 8. This qualifying cycle happened three times per split. Teams earned RLCS points at each stage. The top teams then went to that split's Major. The Majors used the Swiss and knockout stages and gave even more points. The total points decided who went to the World Championship. The World Championship was made smaller, from 24 teams to 16 teams, using the same format as the Majors.

On January 4, 2024, it was announced that Blast ApS would take over organizing the RLCS from Psyonix. Blast ApS is known for running other big esports events.

The first Major of the RLCS 2024 season was won by Gentlemates Alpine. G2 Stride won the second Major. Team BDS won the overall 2024 season.

Towards the end of the 2024 World Championship, it was announced that RLCS would return for the 2025 season in January. The total prize pool for 2025 is $5,000,000! A new 1v1 tournament was added. The main 3v3 tournament also got some changes. These included a "last chance" qualifier tournament between Major 2 and the World Championship. The World Championship also grew to 20 teams.

The 2025 season uses a new format for its Opens and World Championship. It starts with a double elimination bracket. The top 32 teams (or 24 in some Opens) then go to two Swiss groups. From there, 16 teams move to a GSL stage, and then 8 teams go to a hybrid elimination bracket. Majors use a 16-team Swiss stage, with the top 8 moving to a hybrid elimination bracket.

Karmine Corp won the first Major of the 2025 season. The new RLCS 1v1 event also started at this Major. France's Axel "Mawkzy" Timone won the first 1v1 event. He beat Brazil's Yan "yanxnz" Xisto Nolasco. Mawkzy will play at the RLCS World Championship in Lyon-Décines in September.

Team Falcons won the second Major of the 2025 season. This was the first time a team from the Middle East won an RLCS international title! The Middle East is the only region outside North America or Europe to win an RLCS international event so far. The second Major's 1v1 final saw Saudi Arabia's Hisham "Nwpo" Alqadi beat Brazil's João "diaz" Henrique. Nwpo will face Mawkzy for the first RLCS 1v1 World Champion title.

3v3 Seasons

1v1 Seasons