UPDATE [15/07/22]: Skate 4 – which has simply been dubbed Skate – will be free-to-play on PlayStation, Xbox, as well as PC in addition to featuring cross-play and cross-progression support.
Full Circle recently explained how it followed four rules during the development stage:
- No Pay Ro Win
- No Map Areas Locked Behind Paywall
- No Paid Loot Boxes
- No Paid Gameplay Advantages
Original Article – Someone Leaked ‘Skate 4’ Gameplay Footage (And It Looks Bloody Awesome)
It seems as though revival-of-classics season is still going strong. Though we’re not exactly complaining. Give us the best parts of our childhood with remastered graphics and we’ll give you our whole paycheques. Now, two years after Electronic Arts initially confirmed Skate 4 was in the early stages of development, the gaming giant is another step closer to our collective financial surrender.
Radio silence has once again been broken, this time by unofficial channels. And we have Reddit user u/Pazalai to thank. The motivated netizen somehow managed to capture footage of the upcoming EA title in its pre-alpha stage. For those of you who aren’t quite up to speed on industry lingo, pre-alpha versions are simply a work-in-progress without all of its features (and certainly not ready for public consumption).
RELATED: ‘Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic’ Remake In Development
“Just off this pre-alpha, I am very much looking forward to the final product,” writes u/Pazalai.
“Obviously needs a lot of work… Ragdoll whilst buggy looks fun… Tricks are great and a bit more than hard difficulty… Trans gameplay is WIP big time.”
“The essence of Skate is still there (EA Miracle)… Settings are completely bugged and gets me crashed (may be exclusive to the crack).”
“HUD is much more crowded with Objectives and such… On Foot is soooooo much better… Animations are PRISTINE.”
You can deep dive in your own time in the thread found here.
Around this time last year, Full Circle – the studio charged with bringing Skate 4 to life – offered fans of the long-dormant, cult franchise some tongue-in-cheek reassurance via teaser trailer. Appropriately dubbed We’re Working On It with a heavy emphasis on the “tease” element, while many were undoubtedly glad to hear progress was actually being made, many more were left feeling pretty blue balled by this so-called preview.
Instead of showing the world any gameplay footage, all we received were BTS clips of motion-capture actors mapping out the in-game mechanics, smugly self-aware narration which sounded a lot like your whinier and more indignant Skate fan, plus the real kicker: reactions of people who have witnessed the game-in-progress firsthand. It was almost enough aggravation to warrant a riot.
Safe to say, another marketing team earned their black belt in building anticipation / pissing off the masses.
“About fucking time,” one commentator expresses.
“It just looks beautiful… this whole open-world — ” says another, before conveniently being cut off.
“It reminds me of Skate 2.“
“Yeah! You can climb.”
“Playing with all the homies will be so sick.”
“Explain that spinning rail – can you do that to anything?”
“I don’t want to look like anybody else.”
“You guys are in the fucking future.”
… it goes on from there.
A little more recently, pre-pre-alpha footage was (officially) published, also appropriately dubbed Still Working On It. This one is best experienced firsthand without too much explanation beforehand.
Skate 4 was first announced by Game Director Deran Chung and Creative Director Chris “Cuz” Parry – “veteran developers” of the Skate franchise – during EA Play Live 2020; the latter of whom noted the long-awaited follow-up was going ahead after being “commented into existence.”
“We’re back, we’re doing it! Skate’s happening, we’re rolling,” said Chris Parry.
“We secretly got together. It’s the beginning — the Skate evolution continues.”
“We’ve been waiting years, honestly, to make the right game, at the right time, with the right idea, and — really, really pleased to say that we’re here,” said Deran Chung.
At this stage, however, we’re still none the wiser regarding the hard details surrounding Skate 4 – release dates, platform compatibility, nothing. It’s not even clear whether this new game will even be called Skate 4 or follow an entirely different naming convention (Sk4te?). Although interestingly enough, EB Games currently has an active listing that indicates a placeholder price of $99.95, alongside a release date section marked “Preorder TBC 2022.” Late 2022 sounds pretty feasible.
We’ll keep you in the loop as soon as we hear anything.
