EA is set to bring the Skate franchise back this year, marking an exciting return for many longtime gamers. It’s now been 15 long years since the last mainline Skate game with Skate 3, and the excitement for a follow-up has been palpable. There has yet to be a release date for the newest chapter, stylized as skate., but EA has been hosting playtests before the game launches in early access.
When it came to the skateboarding subgenre within sports games, Tony Hawk and his Pro Skater series were one of the top dogs. However, Skate brought forth exciting innovations that made it a worthy competitor. There have been a few sneak peeks at Skate that suggest a fun experience is on the way, but its release hopefully reignites a newfound craving for even more extreme sports-related projects to return.
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Skate Expands Playtesting to Include Console Players
EA’s highly anticipated new entry of the Skate franchise, titled skate., is expanding its playtests to include players on consoles.
The Return of Skate Hopefully Means Extreme Sports Games Make a Comeback
Bringing Back One of Gaming’s Best 2000s Trends
While not necessarily the first in the genre, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater helped put extreme sports games on the map. Launched in 1999, the genesis of this franchise alongside releases like 1080 Snowboarding and Thrasher: Skate and Destroy set the groundwork for this subgenre to be a standout trend throughout the early 2000s. Sports like snowboarding, skateboarding, racing, and surfing made their way into the world of video games, but these types of titles have unfortunately fizzled out over time.
As of now, Skate is set to be a free-to-play title, marking it the first of its kind in the franchise.
Sports games that revolve around football, basketball, and soccer are still hot commodities within this genre, but extreme sports have been pushed to the sidelines. If EA’s fresh take on Skate proves to be a success, this could open the floodgates to both revamp old franchises and potentially inspire new ones, too.
A hypothetical new renaissance of the skating and extreme sports genre may already be ready to take hold of the industry. Last year, Tony Hawk confirmed that he and Activision were working together again on a secret project, which could be a sign that skating is on the road to being a popular genre once more. It’s unclear what this secretive project is, but between that and Skate‘s impending early access launch, skaters and those nostalgic for the extreme sports heyday could be in for a treat.
Other Popular Extreme Sports Games From the 2000s
- Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer
- Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX
- Aggressive Inline
- MX vs. ATV
- MX Unleashed
- Burnout
The above list features just a few of the franchises that could be worthy of a comeback. However, even if these games are left to nostalgia, fresh series are hopefully on the horizon to take their places. The hype surrounding extreme sports may not be at the same level as the early 2000s, but there is always the possibility of popularity to skyrocket again. Skate culture was a defining feature of the start of the 21st-century, and for many gamers who lived through it, such a return would be a thrilling prospect. Gaming has evolved a lot since the early 2000s, but past trends are oftentimes bound to come back in style eventually.
Skate is set to launch for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
As the wait for Skate‘s early access launch continues, finally seeing what the franchise has in store next is intriguing. In a world where mechanics are now more complex, thinking of how Skate approaches current gameplay methods is a compelling line of thought. With the Skate franchise getting a second chance at life, it will be exciting to see if any other big names in the genre follow in the series’ footsteps.
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