EA has officially announced that Skate 4 will now be titled Skate., and will be free to play on all platforms. The game will be released on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, and it has been announced that it will support cross-play and, more importantly, cross-progression.
Why is Skate Free To Play?
The developers at EA had quite a bit to say about the changes made to Skate.. during a discussion with The Board Room, including why the game will be free to play. They explained that the game is not a remake or a sequel; this is just Skate., and there will be no further Skate 5 through 10 or anything of the sort. The devs stated that they are in it "for the long haul" and will be listening to the player's feedback over time and making changes to the game based on those requests. EA went on to clarify once more:
"it’s skate. It’s NOT Skate 4. Just skate. Period. That’s why we put a little period after it.”
They mentioned that they didn't want a game players could just "beat." They wanted to make a game that they could continuously come back to and make changes upon, something that has longevity and doesn't die out. They want players to come back to the game and find that there are new features to explore and new content to play through. The Head of Product Management at Full Circle, Isabelle Mocquard, stated, "Our dream is that skate. never ends. And in order to do that, we'll be actively supporting skate. with new gameplay elements and tweaks, new content releases and events, and lots of seasonal drops."
Though the game is free to play, there will be pay-to-play microtransactions included in the game as well. Players will be able to purchase a vast amount of cosmetics and customizations for their characters and skateboards. So why exactly did they go the free-to-play route? They explained that as they were looking at the free-to-play Skate. model, they chose to look at several games on the market today that also use this model. This is where they drew their inspiration from, games that also make spending money optional to the player, such as Apex Legends. They went on to state.
"With such a model, we’ll be able to keep the community united between the players who decide to spend and those who don’t. And that means that those social connections, those friendships made in-game, can flourish without splitting our audience.”"
When it came time to ask about a possible release date, Creative director Deran Chung only said, "It'll be out when it's ready." Meaning that there is no sign of a launch as of yet. The developers said they want to take their time with the game, so it's done right, that it will be ready when it's ready. They announced that there would be an opportunity to play the game this summer, as they will allow players to play Skate. while it is still in development.
For anyone who would like to become a part of the Skate. Playtest, they can sign up on the official website.
