Inside the Tech of Rocket League’s Paris Major: How Epic Games Is Using Unreal Engine to Mimic Live Sports and Eradicate

IGN is on the ground in Paris all weekend, capturing all of the breaking news at the Rocket League Championship Series Paris Major. Catch the Semifinals and Finals on IGN’s YouTube channel. When Rocket League first came out 11 years ago, it appeared on the surface to be a relatively simple proposition: players face off in a soccer-like arena and battle to get a giant ball into a net. But, more than a decade later, the game has amassed a huge following and a distinct spot in the world of competitive Esports. That growth culminates this weekend in the Rocket League Championship Series Paris Major - the game’s biggest-ever in-person tournament (in a venue holding up to 25 thousand) fans gathering to see which one of 16 teams takes home the biggest share of a $350 thousand prize pot. I spoke to the team behind Rocket League about how the game is still growing, why they consider it to have an “infinite” skill ceiling, and the massive tech behind next-generation broadcast. “The vast majority of everything you will see in broadcast, even in-arena triggering of lights, the light panels on the floor, [the in-game and arena cameras],is all being used by Unreal Engine,” says Cliff Shoemaker,

May 24, 2026 → May 24, 2026