Rocket League's basketball mode is shooting for April, will be 'hardcore'

Rocket League

Earlier this month, Psyonix teased a new basketball mode for Rocket League, but didn't reveal anything beyond a screenshot.

Speaking to techradar at GDC 2016, Psyonix Design Director Corey Davis revealed that Hoops mode is set to arrive in April, but with a warning: it'll be turning up the difficulty by a few notches.

Dunking will obviously mean more emphasis on aerial skills, so nailing those trajectories will be more important than ever.

"Thats a concern for us," Corey says when asked about how tough Hoops will be. "It's a lot harder than hockey to pick up and score, and it's kind of a test in terms of, like, is a more hardcore mode going to be received well or not?"

'You don't have to aerial'

"Because it's really fun, especially for dunking, you don't have to aerial. It's fairly possible to hit the ball and have it shoot in like an actual basketball shot."

At the end of last year, Psyonix introduced an ice hockey mode for the holiday season, which eventually became a permanent mutator (special toggles in the game that can alter play).

"In hockey, anyone can score in the first ten seconds, basketball's much harder," Corey says.

But fans won't have long to wait to start practicing their dunking skills. "I think we're shooting for next month, so pretty soon," Corey reveals when asked about a launch date. "It's basically done on our side".

Hugh Langley

Hugh Langley is the ex-News Editor of TechRadar. He had written for many magazines and websites including Business Insider, The Telegraph, IGN, Gizmodo, Entrepreneur Magazine, WIRED (UK), TrustedReviews, Business Insider Australia, Business Insider India, Business Insider Singapore, Wareable, The Ambient and more.

Hugh is now a correspondent at Business Insider covering Google and Alphabet, and has the unfortunate distinction of accidentally linking the TechRadar homepage to a rival publication.

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