Psyonix boots in-game item trading from Rocket League to match Epic policy

Rocket League's player-to-player trading will be going away on December 5, revealed Psyonix.

The feature, which lets players trade in-game items with one another, is being axed as part of Epic Games' policy for in-game cosmetics. Under the parent company's rules, such items can't be tradable, transferable, or sellable by players. 

Players couldn't trade items for real world money, but Psyonix may have future monetization plans in store for the game. It noted that getting rid of the trading system "opens up future plans for some Rocket League vehicles to come to other Epic games over time, supporting cross-game ownership."

Monetization-wise, Psyonix previously excised Rocket League's randomized paid loot boxes in favor of more transparent systems back in 2019. At the time, the change came ahead of the FTC's loot box investigation, and was one of many games (like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive) that had to change its revenue methods. 

Third-party websites and servers that specialized in Rocket League trading (and were already unaffiliated with Psyonix) will be further considered "fraudulent" after December 5.

What Psyonix is doing isn't that dissimilar to the recent external monetization crackdowns made by Valve. For titles like Counter-Strike and DOTA 2, the developer has made moves to halt the monetization of custom games or promotion of player gambling, both of which have been longstanding issues in those games for several years.