Psyonix Games is a name you might not have heard of before the release of Rocket League, though its a near certainty that youve played one of the games theyve worked on. With contributions to titles like Gears of War and Unreal Tournament 4, they are no strangers to the ups and downs of game development.While Psyonix may have been well versed in creating games, they were unceremoniously thrown into esports when a derivative to their multiplayer game Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket Powered Battle Cars (SARPBC) took off in a big way. Rocket League, released on July 7, 2015, has been a hit from the start, reaching 20 million unique players in a little over a year. Its thriving competitive scene began back in its beta with former SARPBC players, and one of the earliest challenges Psyonix faced with Rocket League was building a team to work on the games development as well as supporting the burgeoning esports scene.Although the ever-expanding Rocket League player base is huge and fuels growing events like the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS), the incredible numbers arent the whole story behind the games success. Luke Thompson, one of the two esports and event managers at Psyonix, credited the games growth to the community and its sense of family, saying the best part of the phenomenon is how strongly the community has embraced the game and shared it with each other on a global scale. The Rocket League scene is essentially a large, extended family and that was really emphasized during the RLCS Live Finals.Josh Watson, the second of the esports and events managers, added, The growth of the game has exceeded all of our expectations. Wed hoped that Rocket League would do well, but we never imagined that a year later wed have almost 20 million players and still growing. Its really a testament to our players and our community who continue to create a welcoming environment to players new and old. Although it feels like a recent phenomenon, that sense of family had been built from years of SARPBC being a small game on the Playstation Network before transitioning to the breakout success that is Rocket League.The first season of the RLCS in early-mid 2016 wasnt without issue, even to the most basic extent. A major problem came up fast: what kind of tournament website could tolerate 20,000 unique players trying to register and play their matches? The options quickly thinned; an early plan with the site Challonge was scrapped in favor of a custom portal for the RLCS from the site Smash.gg. Yet that was not the only struggle. When you have 1,900 teams playing across two days, you need a lot of people willing to help moderate and resolve disputes. Psyonix reached out to the community to find moderators for this herculean task, again demonstrating its willingness to work together with others in the esports scene to make the game tick. Despite the obstacles, the RLCS was an incredibly beloved event.One of the great successes of Rocket League has been its game balance. Psyonix works closely with both the competitive and casual scene, continuously discussing changes to both cars and maps to make the game feel better on both levels of play. This work came to fruition in the RLCS where casual players could by pure chance run into pro teams they only watch on stream, and yet both teams would be happy with recent changes to the game. The results of Psyonixs work accommodating casual and competitive players became especially apparent when both communities managed to agree on the banning of non-standard maps in the RLCS.The RLCS Season 1 Live Finals peaked with 84,000 concurrent viewers and had over a million unique viewers over the weekend of Aug. 6-7. With a highly successful first event and the backing of Psyonix, the community looks ready to bring the Rocket League esports scene into the mainstream. Although the tournaments achievements were primarily due to Psyonixs efforts, they remained humble. Said Thompson: Thank you! Our games success and the support weve had from our community is something that humbles us (and drives us) on a daily basis. We are where were at because of our amazing fans. We respect and appreciate them greatly.Psyonix may have had trouble focusing on the competitive side in addition to game development initially, but it seems theyve hit their stride in esports. The growth of the esports community has been really positive. Since the release of the game, our community has asked us to take Rocket League esports seriously, and its definitely a major focus moving forward, said Watson.And in case youre wondering about the RLCS in particular, he continued, We designed the RLCS so there was room to grow and the reception to Season 1 was even bigger than wed hoped. We have big goals for the RLCS long-term and were very excited to show our fans and our community what we have in store for next season.Carlos Martinez Cardinals Jersey . LOUIS -- Roman Polak was celebrating even before Alexander Steen scored the winning goal in Saturdays 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Tommy Edman Jersey . 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A person familiar with the hearing, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Saturday that Manfred testified the sport wasnt concerned whether Bosch distributed performance-enhancing drugs to minors because MLBs interest was his relationship with players under investigation.New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton has revealed that he has agreed a new five-year contract with the franchise.Payton, who has been in charge of the team for a decade, has an 87-57 record during his time with the team. He missed the entire 2012 season after being suspended.ESPN reports that the new deal is worth around $45m, and will keep Payton on board until 2020. He is a highly-regarded figure in New Orleans having taken over in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, subsequently leading the Saints to five play-off appearances and their only Super Bowl championship in February 2010.Payton actually had the physical, paper contract with him in his briefcase at Wednesdays NFL owners meeting.There had been considerable speculation during the 2015 season that the former New York Giants offensive co-ordinator would depart New Orleans and seek a different challenge. Sean Payton (lefy) and quarterback Drew Brees (No 9) celebrate New Orleans Saints Super Bowl triumph in 2010 But Payton insisted at the end of the regular season that the Saints were the only team he could see himself coaching, and said on Wednesday that it was a formality that he would put pen-to-paper on a new contract.dddddddddddd.Theres so much of you in there, that I dont see myself working anywhere else, said Payton. Theres been really good stability and consistency in ownership. That stability, obviously, I dont take for granted.Payton is the NFLs third longest-serving head coach, alongside the Green Bay Packers Mike McCarthy. Only New Englands Bill Belichick and Marvin Lewis of the Cincinnati Bengals have been with their teams longer.Also See:NFL aims for China & GermanyWhich NFL rules could change?NFL on Sky SportsPundits ' ' '