Skate Confirms No Offline Mode

Publisher Electronic Arts and developer Full Circle are currently in their playtesting phase for Skate, allowing a select group of gamers to check out the highly anticipated revival of the beloved skateboarding game franchise. While it is an exciting time for fans of the series, there have been a couple of controversial concerns with the upcoming game. These concerns range from implementing microtransactions during the playtest period to its live-service design model. Specifically regarding its live-service free-to-play direction, players recently voiced their hopes for an offline mode.

EA and Full Circle recently introduced The Grind, a “platform” where the publisher and developer can speak directly with the Skate community. This allows the companies to make announcements, answer questions, and discuss the development of the game in an open and transparent manner. For this first volume, an update regarding its ongoing playtest were shared, as well as some answers to some of the most asked questions from the community. It is here where the companies confirm that Skate will not have an offline mode.

“The simple answer: No. The game and city are designed to be a living, breathing massively multiplayer skateboarding sandbox that is always online and always evolving,” reads the post. “You’ll see bigger things evolve, like changes to the city over time, as well as smaller things, like live events and other in-game activities. In order to deliver on our vision of a skateboarding world, the game will always require a live connection. That is probably not much of a surprise if you’ve been in our playtest.”

Last month, Full Circle released a Skate Insider Playtest Highlights video, which gives a glimpse of the game’s early development stages, as well as what is currently in the playtest. However, this particular video had many comments asking for an offline mode. Much of the worry among fans is tied to the nature of live-service gaming, as many of these sorts of titles have been erased from existence sometimes just several weeks after their official launch. Games like Concord, XDefiant, and Multiversus are essentially the epitome of why players are concerned with Skate‘s live-service direction.

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There is another announcement Full Circle and EA made in the first volume of The Grind that may leave some Skate fans perturbed. In a Q&A video from December 2024 with Full Circle’s Cuz Parry and Deran Chung, Chung had mentioned that early access was “just around the corner.” A specific date or window was not given, but this statement does imply that its early access release was close. Four months later, it is still in its playtesting phase.

The companies confirm that Skate early access is coming in 2025, but it may not be coming “just around the corner.” The post simply says that it will launch “later this year” with a large wave of playtest invites coming in June. This means Skate may not go into early access until after those invites are sent out.

Gamers interested in participating in the Skate Insider Playtesting can register now. It is available for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.