Fans have been asking for a new game in the Skate franchise for years — it was requested so often that responding to any EA announcement with “Skate 4” became a bit of a meme. So when a new game was finally announced in 2020, people unsurprisingly lost their minds. Unfortunately, we also knew a long wait was on the way, because the announcement was nothing more than an indication to fans that they planned on doing it.
Since that announcement, we’ve gotten bits and pieces here and there, and an update that the game was indeed in development about a year ago. On Thursday, EA hosted a stream to give fans a deeper look at what they can expect from the still developing game.
Among the news was some cool info about the name, Skate., and we learned that instead of a reboot, the game should be considered a brand new release. That means we should probably have different expectations for it as well — this is not going to be the same Skate game that many of us grew up loving. For starters, this game is being developed as a free-to-play experience, which means it’s going to have microtransactions for cosmetics and all of the benefits, and downsides, that come with that kind of game.
It might be time for us to look at this new Skate. game not as a AAA experience, but more of an indie homage to a beloved series. That isn’t always a bad thing. For starters, there’s going to be fan playtesting throughout development that players can sign up for. Also, a free-to-play game does mean that more of us are going to be able to play it without spending our money on it. If the game ends up being fun, then that’s great, it just might be a good idea for fans to keep all of this in mind as they wait for more information about the game.