Game developer Psyonix, the creator of vehicular soccer video game Rocket League, has partnered with the WWE for an advertising deal that will last through August, the game developer and wrestling promotion company announced Wednesday.
The deal will see Rocket League title sponsor two brand-specific WWE Network events, SmackDown Live's Backlash on May 21 and Raw's Great Balls of Fire in July. In addition, it will serve as one of several promotional sponsors for WWE's flagship, multibrand event SummerSlam in August. Rocket League will also be a presenting partner for the promotion's WWE Women's Tournament during the summer.
Rocket League will also be advertised throughout other products on the WWE Network, and on WWE's regular television programs on Raw and SmackDown on USA Network. Additional terms include integration with UpUpDownDown, the WWE's popular video game YouTube channel started by Xavier Woods.
"The integrated partnership with Psyonix will provide Rocket League with an opportunity to utilize WWE's global platforms and reach our passionate fan base, many of whom are avid gamers," WWE executive vice president John Brody said in a news release. "We look forward to working with Rocket League as we collectively build customized one-stop shopping programs to reach their consumers."
Since its launch in the summer of 2015, Rocket League, which puts gamers in control of automobiles in a competitive, multiplayer soccer-style game, has seen a massive amount of praise. The game has accumulated a player base of 31 million players across Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Mac, SteamOS and Linux. The game also partnered with Amazon-owned livestreaming platform Twitch in March 2016 to host the Rocket League Championship Series, a competitive esports competition that featured several hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize payouts.
"As WWE fans ourselves, we are well aware of WWE's strong capabilities as a strategic marketing partner," said Psyonix vice president Jeremy Dunham. "WWE has proven time and again that they know how to execute fantastic integrated programming, and with an audience that has similar interests to our own, it was only natural that we team up to see what we could do together."