Since its debut, Rematch has suffered a catastrophic exodus of players. While the title initially peaked at 92,841 concurrent users on Steam, that figure has since plummeted to fewer than 5,000—a staggering decline of over 90%.
Sloclap’s project aimed to revitalize the football genre with a more authentic 5v5 experience compared to EA FC, yet the audience is steadily drifting away. Persistent technical hurdles, specifically regarding netcode and desynchronization, are rapidly alienating the remaining player base.
A columnist at TheGamer highlighted these frustrations, noting:
“The idiosyncratic mechanics of the game engine—specifically the way players interact with the ball and one another—have birthed certain ‘techniques’ that are virtually impossible to counter. Executing some of these moves felt so unnatural that it seemed more like exploiting a glitch than demonstrating actual skill.”
Furthermore, Rematch’s matchmaking system fails to account for varying skill levels. Players across all ranks are often funneled into the same lobbies, turning the competitive grind into a test of time investment rather than a measurement of talent.
As an indie studio, Sloclap is operating with limited resources; new features arrive slowly, and critical bugs often linger. These compounded factors are gradually eroding the community, and despite the game’s solid mechanical core, a successful resurgence now seems unlikely.
Source: iXBT.games