For years now, fans have been asking EA for another entry in the Skate franchise. After Neversoft and the Tony Hawk‘s series basically held a monopoly over skating games for almost a decade, Skate held the spotlight for a comparatively short but very sweet period of time. EA Black Box took a different approach to the skateboarding game compared to Neversoft, which had an emphasized an arcade approach to gameplay, whereas Skate did things slightly different. Skate took a more simulatory experience with motion inputs, though it was never too hard to the point of it being a strictly enthusiast experience.
The Skate franchise has been dormant for a long time, but the renewed popularity from Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 Remaster seems to have spurned on EA. After fans had complained in huge numbers on social media, numerous times, creators of the original Skate were finally able to return and start working on a new entry. Changes in studio management wanted to bring back the Skate franchise, and thus came the announcement of a new Skate entry at EA Play Live last summer. And, well, that was it. No gameplay, no trailer, just an assurance from the creators of the game that a new entry was coming. No pomp or circumstance, just a new Skate game.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with announcing a new game like that, at least in context. The established pedigree of Skate, and fan desire for a Skate sequel carried the relatively uneventful announcement from last summer. But it also makes the announcement from over six months ago quite indicative of what the state of development is on the next Skate game. Perhaps the next Skate entry may have been announced too early, especially if there won’t be a proper gameplay reveal any time soon. The lack of any kind of substantive media, even like an animated trailer, is really what’s most telling of the next entry’s announcement this past summer.
The fact that the game’s announcement wasn’t accompanied by some kind of trailer, animated or in-engine, shows how quickly this announcement could have potentially been put together. Spirited excitement from the game’s creative directors is totally fine, but using that as the sole reveal of the next Skate game is certainly unusual. Even in the reality where this reveal was planned far ahead of time, even the smallest morsel of development/behind-the-scenes footage would have been enough. Games in the past have typically prepared CGI trailers, not necessarily indicative of actual gameplay, to at least reveal the game in a presentable manner, so it’s certainly unusual.
At bare minimum, this announcement should indicate to fans that it’ll be a while before the next Skate entry is truly unveiled. Obviously nothing about this can be indicative of a troubled development or anything like that, but it should inspire a cautious optimism. Announcing that the game simply exists likely means the game is pretty early on in development. Given that it’s the long-awaited return of Skate after over a decade has passed since Skate 3, understandably EA would want to get this right. According to an interview with Jenkem Magazine, development started on the next Skate when EA appointed a new Chief Studios Officer in 2018.
Supposedly, EA’s current Chief Studios Officer Laura Miele was a big supporter of a new Skate entry, and thus greenlighted production. Both directors figured that, at some point, Skate would find its place again in EA’s games lineup. Miele was appointed to the position early on in February, so it’s very possible that mid-to-late 2018 was when the next Skate entry began development. However, that does not mean prototypes or playable demoes have already been made as of 2018/2019. The interview also stated that the game is still very early in development, which could easily mean conceptual changes or otherwise that happen prior to a game actually being built.
At least the hardcore Skate fans left 2020 fully knowing that there’s a new entry coming at some point. Whether that’s Skate 4, or a reinvention of Skate altogether, the game has been in development for at least a couple years. However, the fact that no gameplay or trailer of any kind was shown last summer is reinforces that development on the next Skate could still be very early on. It may be a while before any substantial gameplay is shown of the next Skate game.
A new Skate entry is in development.
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