Skateboarding games were once a staple of the world of gaming with franchises like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Skate among the most popular franchises of their era. The games were an iconic mix of late 90's and early 2000's street culture and video gaming, and helped to propel professional skaters like Tony Hawk to superstardom. Now, with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater largely absent from the modern market, save for a few nostalgia-inspired skating game retreads, Skate 4 is looking to bring skateboarding back to the limelight.
Skate 4 was first announced during EA's Play Showcase during E3 2020 to the excitement of skateboarding fans everywhere. The game will mark the first entry into EA's answer to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater since Skate 3 released in 2010. EA's prior entries to the Skate franchise were consistently praised for their stick-centric control scheme coupled with the more realistic portrayal of skateboarding compared to their arcade-inspired counterpart. Today, EA gave Skate fans on PC even more reason to be excited for the franchise's return.
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EA released a short teaser video on its Twitter account confirming that the newest Skate title would be making its way onto the PC. The short trailer takes a lowkey approach to announcing the confirmation, showing off some real skateboarding tricks before kickflipping over a monitor revealing the Skate logo. Skate 4 will notably be the first Skate title to release on the PC, as the previous three main series titles were all console-exclusive.
Skate 4 will be releasing into a market that is noticeably slim on big-name new games based on the iconic extreme sport. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater hasn't seen a main series title, save for the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 remake, since THPS 5 released back in 2015. The market has mostly been sustained by indie titles like Easy Day Studios' Skater XL and Glass Bottom Games' highly-anticipated Skatebird, but audiences seem eager for more.
Since Tony Hawk's Pro Skater became a household name in gaming during the late 90's, skateboarding has become synonymous with the video game industry. Companies like Nintendo often release themed skateboards based on popular properties like Pokemon and fans often fashion their own game-inspired designs for their skateboards. While skateboarding may not be as prevalent in games as it once was, Skate 4 will look to entice both old and new fans to head down to the skatepark for another ride.
Skate 4 is currently in development for the PC with no confirmed release date.