In the premiere episode of EA’s new dev diary series The Board Room, we learned that the next game in the Skate series — simply stylized as skate. — will be a free-to-play title with microtransactions and a live service title that developer Full Circle will support for the foreseeable future.
This approach might be a bit worrying for fans who just wanted a more traditional Skate 4, but the developer explains in the video that they really want it to be the only Skate game going forward, which is why they’ve stylized its title as skate. with a period at the end. Expect it to be a multiplayer-focused live service title that gets frequent updates over time depending on what the developers want to add and what the community requests.
Of course, this free-to-play approach means skate. will have microtransactions. That said, the developers are promising that it won’t be pay-to-win as players can’t buy in-game advantages, no areas are locked behind a paywall, and there are no loot boxes. They also teased that it’s a game that they want to be available everywhere, so players can expect it on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and even mobile devices eventually.
While the business model for skate. was the biggest news from this presentation, a few more specific details about the game were also discussed. We got a look at collaborative zones where players can work together to build skate parks and got confirmation that skate. will have full cross-play when it launches. We also learned the name of the city skate. is set in is called San Vansterdam. It looks like it will be a large playground where players can spend a lot of time skating, grinding, running, and climbing over whatever they come across.
Skate. is currently in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. There is no final release date just yet, but as EA has previously explained, interested players can sign up to playtest the game before its official launch.
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