After years of waiting, Electronic Arts announced that its new Skate game is hitting early access in 2025.
If you can’t wait to check it out, you can sign up for the Skate Insider Playtesting program to participate in closed tests.
we're incredibly stoked to announce that skate. will be launching in Early Access in 2025. we'll share more details on what to expect in the coming months. pic.twitter.com/ZbFL3WycWu
— skate. (@skate) September 17, 2024
This is a huge step forward for Skate, the next title in the long-dormant skateboarding game series. The franchise has been on hiatus since 2010. Despite Skate 3 being the best entry in the series, to the point where the publisher had to re-print copies in 2014 because of increased demand, EA said it had no plans to make Skate 4 in 2017.
EA announced that a new Skate game was in development back in 2020 during its EA Play presentation, although game director Deran Chung — who also worked on the original Skate games — clarified that it was in very early stages. Updates have been sparse over the years, with a few trailers and behind-the-scenes videos here and there. It was also unclear if this was a Skate 4, a reboot, or something else entirely.
Developer Full Circle revealed in 2022 that the game — stylized as skate. — would be a free-to-play title with microtransactions, and will take place in a new city called San Vansterdam (related of course to San Vanelona, the city from previous entries). The team called it an “authentic evolution” of the series, and that its live-service nature will allow them to update it for years to come. They also promised that there won’t be any pay-to-win microtransactions or loot boxes.