Who founded Psyonix, the studio behind Rocket League?

Dave Hagewood founded Psyonix, the studio behind Rocket League.

Psyonix was established in 2000 in Satellite Beach, Florida, as Hagewood and the team from his internet-focused company WebSite Machines moved toward video-game development. Before founding the studio, Hagewood had worked in web hosting and multimedia software and had developed an interest in modifying games, particularly games involving vehicles.

One of Psyonix’s early breakthroughs came from VehicleMOD, a vehicle-focused modification for Unreal Tournament 2003. Epic Games hired the studio to turn that work into the Onslaught mode for Unreal Tournament 2004. Psyonix later created Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, the 2008 predecessor that supplied the foundation for Rocket League.

The other names in the choices are associated with Psyonix or the wider games industry, but they are not the company’s founder. Corey Davis was a Rocket League designer, and Jeremy Dunham was a prominent Psyonix executive and producer. Epic Games acquired Psyonix in 2019, but Hagewood remained the person credited with founding the studio.