The 2024 edition of the RLCS arrives with one less international LAN competition.
The Rocket League community's wait is over as developer Psyonix reveals all the details about the new season on its official website. The post was made on Jan. 10 and revealed that the season would begin in just 16 days. The transfer window will be from April. 1 to April. 14. RLCS 2024 will award $4,300,000 globally in prizes.
New format for RLCS 2024
One of the big pieces of news of the new season is the exclusion of an international tournament. The last seasons had the Spring, Winter and Fall Majors, in addition to the World Championship. RLCS 2024 will have two Majors and the World Championship.
Psyonix did not detail the locations of any of these competitions in the announcement.
Even before the announcement, the RLCS had already announced something new for 2024. The minimum age was reduced to 13 years old. Psyonix revealed the requirements for these players to play:
"Parent or Guardian permission will continue to be required for all minors to compete. Each Minor that participates in any in-person event will require a Parent or Guardian to attend."
Standardizes slots in RLCS 2024
The regions will have a standardized number of places in the RLCS 2024 Majors. The new season in relation to the previous one removes a spot from Europe and North America.
With this, MENA receives another spot, and a new region is introduced, Sub-Saharan Africa with a spot. This will also be the distribution for the World Championship.
RLCS 2024 Major and World Championship Qualifying Method
The way of qualifying for international tournaments remains similar to last season. For each Major, teams will play three regional qualifiers. The qualifiers will also be similar as Psyonix explains in the statement:
- Open Double Elimination bracket to determine the top 16 teams in each region.
- 16-team Swiss System to determine the top 8 teams in each region.
- 8-team Single Elimination bracket to determine standings in each region."
The best teams from the three qualifiers will have a place in the Major. For the World Championship, the team's performance throughout the season counts.
Format
The RLCS brings a unified format to the Majors. Sixteen teams will compete in a Swiss format and the best eight in single elimination playoffs.
Although there is no information on the format of the World Championship, based on the number of places we can conclude that the Wildcard phase has been removed.
RLCS 2024 schedule
Psyonix has already revealed the ranking program schedule for both Majors. Here are the dates for the Majors:
RLCS Major 1
- Open Qualifier #1 - Double Elimination Stage: Jan. 26 - 28
- Open Qualifier #1 - Swiss Stage: Feb. 2
- Open Qualifier #1 - Single Elimination Stage: Feb. 3 – 4
- Open Qualifier #2 - Double Elimination Stage: Feb. 9 - 11
- Open Qualifier #2 - Swiss Stage: Feb. 16
- Open Qualifier #2 - Single Elimination Stage: Feb. 17 – 18
- Open Qualifier #3 - Double Elimination Stage: Feb. 23 - 25
- Open Qualifier #3 - Swiss Stage: March 1
- Open Qualifier #3 - Single Elimination Stage: March 2 – 3
RLCS Major 2
- Open Qualifier #4 - Double Elimination Stage: April 19 - 21
- Open Qualifier #4 - Swiss Stage: April 26
- Open Qualifier #4 - Single Elimination Stage: April 27 – 28
- Open Qualifier #5 - Double Elimination Stage: May 3 - 5
- Open Qualifier #5 - Swiss Stage: May 10
- Open Qualifier #5 - Single Elimination Stage: May 11 – 12
- Open Qualifier #6 - Double Elimination Stage: May 17 - 19
- Open Qualifier #6 - Swiss Stage: May 24
- Open Qualifier #6 - Single Elimination Stage: May 25 - 26
Prizepool distribution at RLCS 2024
For RLCS 2024, Psyonix announced that "pricing distribution has widened significantly in all regions."
In each Open Qualifier, in each region:
- In North America and Europe, the best 128 will be rewarded monetarily.
- The best 64 will be rewarded monetarily in South America, Oceania, and MENA.
- In APAC and SSA, the 32 best teams will be rewarded monetarily.
Community Reaction to RLCS 2024
The community didn't share the best feedback on Psyonix's announcement. NRG's Chief Gaming Officer called the announcement "bad."
Sören 'Fantasy', Vice President of Talent and General Manager at Complexity listed the downgrades in relation to RLCS 2024.
Co-Owner and CEO of Spacestation, Shawn "Unit" Pellerin even says that RLCS 2024 "feels like a punch to the guts".
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