Tony Hawkgames have been gone a long time, despite the success and legacy of thePro Skaterfranchise. Many fans don’t even count the most recent entry in the series, and for good reason. But with Summer Game Fest’s announcement of aTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 Remastercoming this year, it seems the franchise is back to tear up Warehouse 1 again. That just leaves one other skateboarding series to make a similarly triumphant return:Skate.
Speaking of franchises that have been gone a long time, theSkatefranchise has been gone longer thanPro Skaterat this point. That fact may be genuinely surprising to some, considering the series is less-than-half the age of theTony Hawk’s Pro Skatergames. DespiteSkate’s short stint in the limelight, the game’s were incredibly successful and helped revolutionize the modern popularity of skateboarding games. Similar toPro Skater,the series has been on ice since 2010, but this remaster may be the push the franchise needs to return.
True to Form Skateboarding
The interesting thing aboutSkatewas that it was never living in the shadow of theTony Hawkgames, as the EA franchise was able to carve out its own popularity by striving for a more simulation-based skateboarding experience in a video game.WherePro Skater,Underground, and several otherTony Hawkgamesdepicted bombastic arcade-like skateboarding with simplistic controls,Skateinnovated the genre of skateboarding games through a revolutionary control scheme and gameplay grounded in reality. For this reason, the franchises never really competed with one another because they were two unique experiences, and that was a good thing.
The “flick it” mechanics inSkatewere innovative because the trick motions more closely resembled the motions real skateboarders would do when performing a trick.Skate’s ensemble of tricks each required a different variation of analog stick motions, similar to special moves in fighting games. Partially due to the limited control scheme of the original PlayStation controller,Pro Skaterutilized simpler movements and button combinations instead. That’s not to say either was better/worse or limited, as both games leaned into their own distinct versions of skateboarding in a game. At the same time, the flick it mechanicsmadeSkate’s gameplay incredibly engaging and satisfying. Among other distinct modes and challenges throughout the game,Skatewas solidified as one of the best skateboarding games of all time.
No Longer a Pop Culture Staple
A newSkategame hasn’t come out since 2010, though that was mostly because of genre fatigue. Skateboarding was simply becoming less popular in pop culture, which of course affected skateboarding games as well.Tony Hawkgames similarly ended around that time with their last traditional entry in the franchise,Proving Ground, in 2007. The series did experiment with some peripheral-based skateboarding games and spin-offs, but they never amounted to similar success as thePro Skatergames. Of course,there wasTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5in 2015, but that game was rushed through development, and as a resul,t was a critically panned, commercial failure.
Skate,however, seemingly disappeared afterSkate 3, with the game’s multiplayer servers unceremoniously shutting down in 2016. For a while rumors and fan requests started pouring out in 2017 asking for “Skate 4,” but EA CEO Andrew Wilson very quickly shut down anySkate 4speculation. There’s been little tidbits of information since then from various perspectives about the future ofSkate.
Listings for “Skate 4” showed up at some online retailers, as well as a few alleged promotional images for “Skate 4” were leaked online. Eventually,Skate3’s multiplayer servers randomly came back online in 2018, while EA renewed theSkatetrademark the year after. There was evena professional skateboarder who was approached by EAfor a mobileSkateproject, which he declined in the interest of working on a mainlineSkaterelease instead.
Fans Want More Skate
For years, fans have been expressing their interest in a newSkategame with EA, to no avail. Comments on EA’s Instagram pictures were mostly comprised of “Skate 4” requests and complaints.Even celebrity Tyler, the Creator put out a viral tweetin 2017 dreaming of anotherSkategame. Now in 2020, fans are showing a renewed interest in aSkatesequel, especially with the announcement of aPro Skaterremaster. It’s also whySkate 4was trending on Twitter recently. Fans just want moreSkate. It’s as simple as that.
There’s a vested and vocal interest in theSkatefranchise, and it’s very likely EA is coming to realize this even if there’s no game in development. Even games likeSession, billed as a spiritual successor toSkate, are being independently developed because of the lack of a similar modern experience. With theTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2Remastered Collectionannouncement being met with near universal praise, it’s very possible this could be the catalyst for EA to consider aSkatesequel or even re-release. Considering the sheer amount of fans that have been hammering EA with requests and complaints about a lack ofSkatein their lives, it’s very possible.
We’ll have to wait and see if EA even considers jumping back into theSkateseries, but the publisher at least knows the interest is there. Hopefully,Pro Skater’s glorious return will be enough to encourage a return of another great skateboarding game, with this vested entry continuing on for many years. With or withoutSkate 4, the future of skateboarding games may produce more games, and that’s something EA would understandably want to be part of.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2will launch on September 4 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.Skate 4is not known to be in development.
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