UPDATE 11/08/19: EA have abandoned the Skate trademark.
With the industry seemingly in complete wish fulfillment mode with the announcements of a Final Fantasy 7 remake, a second season of The Wolf Among Us, and a Shenmue sequel all coming within the last few years, the well of wishes from gamers for AWOL games is drying up. However, there’s one game that refuses to die, even if it was never really alive to begin with: Skate 4. With its non-appearance at E3 2018, the future looks bleaker for Skate fans.
The Skate series was launched as a (slightly) more serious rival to Tony Hawk’s huge franchise and while it never reached the heights of the original innovator, it reached a very dedicated following over its three games. The last, Skate 3, is probably the most infamous of the bunch, providing hours upon hours of YouTube entertainment thanks to its brutal wipeouts and ridiculous scenarios. One mode saw you trying to inflict as much pain on your skater as possible.
With (eventually) strong sales likely to appease EA, its publisher, a sequel didn’t look too far away. However, Skate 3 was released back in 2010 and nary a word has been heard since. In that time, the Tony Hawk name was irrevocably tarnished and defecated on from a great height, so it’s even stranger that there’s been no movement at all to make the most of a very passionate niche.
Skate 4 Fan Campaigns
The crying voices for a Skate sequel are almost impossible to ignore. Whenever a new game is announced by EA, it’s highly likely that more than a handful of commenters will be asking for Skate 4 instead – definitely moreso than anyone wants Anthem, at least.
At first, the lobbying was disjointed, but with one of America’s biggest skate parks throwing their support behind the movement, it picked up traction and hasn’t really died off, even if the only sign of anything from anyone at EA about Skate 4 came at the start of last year.
https://twitter.com/HuskyHog/status/825216875021869056
Daniel Lingen, senior management of community engagement at EA (and hopefully not involved with the Battlefront 2 Reddit debacle), tweeted out a succinct hashtag that was never expanded upon. The tweet was independent of his employer (something his bio stresses), but a glimmer of hope is better than no hope at all.
Before then, the makeeaskateagain Instagram account was the most concentrated show of support for Skate. Started by The Berrics, the previously mentioned skate park, the account accumulated 30k followers but has been inactive as of March last year.
Sadly, the last time EA even talked about Skate 4 was to confirm that they weren’t working on it last year. There’s been barely a word on the future of the series since, but, remarkably, the support refuses to let up. Almost as if taunting fans, or possibly testing the waters to see if the demand was still there, EA released Skate 3 on EA Access, which just seemed to galvanise the franchise’s backers even more.
As of this writing, here’s EA’s most recent Instagram post promoting UFC 3, a game which definitely does not include skateboards:
If that wasn’t enough, Tyler, The Creator also got involved:
skate 4, i dream of you
— Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) July 31, 2017
At this point, you have to wonder if anyone at EA even checks social media.
Skate 4 and the EA Problem
As much as Skate 4 may be desired by skaters and even those who allergic to tarmac or any kind of dangerous activity (like myself), there’s a big problem that nobody wants to talk about: EA itself and what it’s become as a company.
It’s sad to say, but the Skate 4 you want and the Skate 4 EA might ultimately deliver will undoubtedly be two very different things. Microtransactions are woven into their business fabric, no matter the outrage – even with the backlash to contend with, Battlefront 2 still sold a not unimpressive nine million copies.
It’s hard to also skate over (heh) that Skate 3 all the way back in 2010 had some questionable fiscal decisions. The Time is Money Pack, framed specifically and cynically to cater to those with less time on their hands, allowed you to unlock everything without putting in a second of effort. There was also some more worthwhile DLC that updated older content from earlier Skate games, but still stuff that arguably should have been included from the off.
You need only look at EA’s treatment of the Battlefront IP to know that nostalgia sometimes isn’t enough on its own. The first game in the “refresh” flattered to deceive, offering an almost hilarious scarcity of content compared to the entries that came before it. Worse still, to get the proper Battlefront experience, you had to pay for the exorbitant season pass. When Battlefront 2 was announced, it was promised to be an apology to fans – we all know how that turned out.
Skate 4 in the hands of EA is a dangerous thing. While the like of Unravel and the upcoming Fe and A Way Out show that there’s a glimmer of what they used to be, every other mainline title in their burgeoning catalogue of licenses is positively infected with microtransactions. They may eventually give in and release Skate 4, but at what cost?
The Skate 4 alternatives
With Skate 4 seemingly a no-go and its publisher unlikely to hold back on the DLC front if it ever does happen, it could be wise for franchise fans to look elsewhere. Seemingly developed as the short-term answer to a Skate sequel, Session from crea-ture Studios offers plenty of promise.
As an indie Kickstartered game, it obviously isn’t at the depth of a “full” skating game, but the demo shows signs of being a pure skating joy. Plus, it looks bloody lovely, well and truly putting the PS2 visuals of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 to shame. If you want to find out for yourself, there’s a free demo of the game available on Session’s Kickstarter page.
If Session’s a little too close to the real thing for your tastes, there’s also the very unrealistic and very likely to make you do a murder OlliOlli and its sequel. Both games looks like simple 2D experiences, but they really aren’t. Almost all tricks are difficult to pull off, and all without falling on your face? Forget about it. If I was a terrible person, I would say it’s the Dark Souls of skatebo–sorry, can’t do it.
One final alternative, if you’re stuck in an underground facility with a controller glued to your hands as a bunch of omnipotent gorillas study your torment, you could always play Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5. Only kidding: choose death instead.
The Future of Skate 4
For now, Skate 4 simply isn’t happening. In-between EA’s slate of indies to prove that they aren’t all bad, the attempts to ape Destiny, and the annual sports games they push out without fail, there’s simply no room for Skate 4. Even though Skate 3 sold millions upon millions of copies, EA isn’t the kind of company to keep persevering with franchises that don’t hit the numbers they would like.
But that doesn’t mean people should stop talking about Skate 4. If the demands keep getting louder or just remain as steadfastly passionate as they are know, EA may eventually buckle. As mentioned earlier, that might not be a good thing after all with EA’s passion for alienating its fanbase with questionable business decisions.
The brightest hope for Skate 4, ultimately, is that somebody else acquires the license or that a spiritual successor that embodies everything the Skate series used to be. If it’s any consolation, the last time we published a speculative piece on an AWOL game was for The Wolf Among Us’ second season, and that ended up getting announced last year. Maybe, just maybe, there’s hope. Saying that, though, it didn’t get announced during EA Play at E3 2018 when it was expected to, so who knows anymore.
What would you like to see from Skate 4? Let us know down below.
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