For those who haven’t heard of Johnnyboi_i, he’s a leader and streamer within the Rocket League community. Since the beginning of his streaming career, he put emphasis on 1v1 Rocket League E-sports, for years being recognised by professionals as being almost exclusively responsible for the growth of the 1v1 scene in the earlier days of the game.
In the beginning he streamed for a small audience, but he had rapid growth due to his relationship with high level players, such as ‘Markydooda’, ‘Kronovi’, ‘Kuxir97’ and ‘Paschy90’ (influential professional Rocket League players at the time). This was the beginning of his casting of professional 1v1 show matches, which catapulted him into the position for prize pools, storylines between rival players and the expansion of players being shown on stream.
Coming back to where Johnnyboi_i is today, he’s managed to partner with Psyonix for the SMUG (Salt Mine Underground) 1v1 show match events. Having been an analyst and commentator within first, the Gfinity elite series, dreamhack Leipzig and Valencia and most recently RLCS (his most recognised work), the Salt Mine Underground for Johnnyboi_i’s oldest fans feels like him returning to his roots. Showing that he never forgot about his dedication to the growth of the often unrecognised 1v1 show match scene.
With the involvement of Psyonix the prizes for 1v1 have increased dramatically, with the winner of each match receiving £1000 and the loser still walking away with £250, a hefty pay day for a best of five series. But the newfound validity for 1v1 falls mainly on the shoulders of John Macdonald, who believed in the potential of 1v1 series’ and the future of it as an E-sport section within the community, showing the impact a single person can have on E-sports as an expanding genre.
As we move into SMUG 7 it seems as though 1v1 begins to make a stamp on the world of Rocket League E-sports with more and more people being involved. And with a streamer as vocally active as Johnnyboi_i its easy to pin him up as the face of Rocket League 1v1 and easier still to forget everyone involved along the way, from the professional players to the team of casters around him and of course Psyonix themselves. Giving a perfect example to show how E-sports is a continually growing platform, with plenty of room for growth and innovation.