I Am Worried About EA’s Skate Revival

If everything that’s planned to release in the next eight months hits its target, 2025 will be one of the best years for skateboarding video games. We already got the skateboarding action roguelite Helskate back in January, with a trio of bangers set to come out in the coming months, including Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 and Skate Story. Arguably, the most exciting skateboarding game slated to release in 2025, though, is Electronic Arts’ and Full Circle’s Skate (stylized “skate.“). Although it is currently just slated for an early access release in 2025, it has already drawn the attention of many skaters and gamers alike.

This is a comeback story 15 years in the making. The last entry in the series was Skate 3 back in 2010. Fans have been clamoring for Skate 4 for years. At one point, there was a fan-led social media campaign that saw almost every comment on EA’s social channels simply say, “Skate 4.” When it was finally revealed that Full Circle, a newly formed team consisting of developers who worked on previous entries, was working on what is now Skate, there was a lot of excitement. It was awesome to see a beloved franchise be revived. However, the more I’ve seen and heard about this entry has me worried that this may not be the revival I was hoping for.

My Skate dilemma is partially tied to the gameplay. The first bit of footage from the “Still Working On It” video from 2022 was promising. The animation looks incredible. Specifically, I loved the nollie hardflip down the big drop over the handrail. It’s clear the developers watch a lot of skateboarding and are probably skaters themselves. However, the first signs of trouble were in that video.

There is a moment where a huge ramp is shown with players just jumping off of it, some of whom don’t have a board in hand at all. This is followed by footage of a giant human pachinko structure, and a player traversing rafters like its monkey bars at your local playground. I thought this was pretty odd. Some of the first footage shown of the highly anticipated return of the Skate franchise, a series about skateboarding, was players without skateboards jumping off a huge ramp like it was a slide.

This may seem like such a small detail to focus on, but it’s one that I think impacts the entire game in a pretty major way. The reason this is so troubling to me is how I, and probably many others, perceive the Skate series. My earliest memory of this franchise was when footage was shown on MTV’s Rob & Big starring former pro skater Rob Dyrdek and the late Christopher Boykin. Before Skate, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater dominated the skateboarding game genre. Although it was loved by thousands of gamers and skaters, even influencing some of today’s pros, Skate promised something different. It promised realism.

The first footage showed a skater simply pushing towards a rail, doing a frontside 50-50, and then doing a nollie heelflip through a statue. Compared to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, this was a much tamer, realistic line, which is indicative of what this series is built on: realistic skateboarding. It’s the reason I gravitated towards Skate. It allowed me to continue the activity I loved doing after a session and portrayed it like the skate videos I watched incessantly at the time (shout out Enjoi’s Bag of Suck and Foundation’s Cataclysmic Abyss).

As time went on, players found creative ways to play Skate, resulting in some truly impressive footage that took hours, maybe even days, to get right. Most of these clips are totally unrealistic, with skaters dropping down a 100-foot dam, launching off a ramp, and doing a McTwist through a bridge. It’s pretty sick, honestly. It’s not how I would play, but it’s rad that people can do crazy stunts like this in Skate.

RELATED: 10 Pro Skaters That Should Be in Skate

However, these crazy stunts were awesome because it felt like people were finding creative ways to interact with what seemed to be a more realistic approach to skateboarding controls. When I played the first Skate demo on Xbox 360, I never once imagined people shooting off a ramp like a rocket, threading every needle they could find, and launching hundreds of feet in the air, only to miraculously land what seems to be a quarter of the map. Seeing how creative people can get with Skate‘s limited controls is indicative of what actual skateboarding is. So, even the most unrealistic line someone did was sick because you knew that was them stretching their creative muscles to figure out how to execute something that seemed impossible.

These are the main draws for the Skate franchise. It offered a realistic approach to skateboarding video games when there was nothing like it available at the time, and it allowed players to think creatively when executing a line with its somewhat limited controls. The trailer spotlighting on-foot traversal and parkour mechanics tells me there is a focus on implementing features so any given clip can become viral, like the Steezus Christ memes I see to this day.

If there is truly a focus on creating these viral moments in the upcoming Skate game, that is a problem. I like the “Hall of Meat” challenges in the original entries, but potentially having more missions like that would be frustrating and boring. In turn, that would also affect how much players skate, which is incredibly silly to think that a series named Skate would stray away from the actual activity of skateboarding.

This could also impact map design. If there is a focus to bring an experience more akin to the popular memes that have floated around in recent years, then that means there would be more obstacles like the Super Ultra Mega Park. Having spots like that is nice in moderation, but if more than 40 or 50 percent of any given zone is like that, it takes away from the core realistic skateboarding experience the series was first known for.

I do trust Full Circle to create, at the very least, a serviceable gameplay experience with Skate. Even if it were littered with boring challenges, a map of towering mega ramps, and an odd focus on parkour mechanics, if the game is mechanically sound, I do believe the core Skate audience will gravitate to it, especially because it will be free-to-play.

Which brings me to how Skate will be monetized. Recently, it was reported that players who partake in the game’s playtest could purchase virtual currency. Since this will be a free-to-play game, it makes sense that there would be some sort of implementation of microtransactions. That is the least surprising thing about this series revival.

My concern with microtransactions is more based on what it could potentially offer. It feels like Skate is in a lose/lose situation when it comes to monetization. If they keep all the branded cosmetics behind a paywall, like shoes from Nike or pants from Dickies, I could see a scenario where its audience backlashes. On the flip side, if Full Circle doesn’t populate its digital storefront with content people want to buy, the game’s life is at stake.

I guess I’m just not sure what Skate can offer to fans as a premium item without there being some sort of negative reaction to it. It doesn’t seem like smaller maps will be on the table, considering the community-driven nature of its gameplay design, where everyone is skating one big city. However, if they were, I don’t see an outcome where people are stoked to purchase extra content, especially since other modern live-service games bring new modes and maps at no additional cost.

I assume cosmetics will be an item players can spend actual money on in Skate, as just about every live-service game features purchasable cosmetics. Even if Full Circle hides all its branded cosmetics behind a paywall, will players spend tons of money to get every single Girl board, or every Vans shoe? I don’t think so. Personally, beyond a pair of Half Cabs, a certain style of pants, and a board, I don’t see myself spending that much money on cosmetics.

I don’t see a long future for Skate if this is the main draw for its monetization. It could bundle some of these cosmetics with a Season Pass, which could interest players. But again, if it’s just a bunch of cosmetics, I don’t see how this would get me or anyone else to spend more money beyond the handful of items I’ll probably purchase.

I really want Skate to succeed. I love skateboarding games, and a win for a big game within that genre means more may come. However, it’s hard to see a scenario where a live-service Skate game meets expectations and sees a fruitful future, especially with how many other live-service games are shut down just months after full release. We’ll just have to wait and see when Full Circle and EA launch the game, which is currently slated to go into early access this year.