Roller Champions has been officially announced

Ubisoft has used their E3 briefing to officially announce Roller Champions, which they describe as a “free-to-play, skill-based, team PvP sports game – the next must-play competitive online experience.” Check out the trailer below:

In Roller Champions, two teams of three race around a circular track and try to keep possession of the ball. The aim of the game is to score more points than your opponents by throwing the ball through a ring, but your ability to do so and how many points you earn is directly linked to your progress on the track. You’ll have to complete one full lap before you’re able to throw the ball through the ring, but completing more laps with the ball before you score will earn you more points – one point for one lap, three points for two laps, and five points for three laps. That may sound easy enough, but remember that you’ve got to do this while the other team is trying to knock you over to take possession of the ball away from you, and if they manage to do so your lap counter resets.

As soon as you start watching the trailer you’ll see that the game draws obvious inspiration from Rocket League, and Ubisoft are clearly trying to slot themselves into the easy-to-play-but-super-competitive spectator sport market. I called the fact that the game would be free-to-play as soon as I saw the trailer, and there are currently no details on how Ubisoft plan to monetize the game, but it’s highly likely that it will be through cosmetic items rather than any kind of pay-to-win mechanics, as that would completely cut the game out of the scene that Ubisoft are aiming for.

The game is slated for release early next year, but in a pleasant surprise you can actually check the game out right now on PC. Ubisoft has released a free demo that you can play from right now until Friday 14th June if you want to get a very early hands-on experience of the game.

As for other platforms, Ubisoft has so far only confirmed the game for release on PC, but I would be amazed if it wasn’t confirmed for a multi-platform console release as we get closer to launch.