At EA Play 2020, the popular publisher announced a revival of the long-dormant Skate franchise, bringing back members of the original EA Black Box team to lead development on still-unnamed title.
In 2007, Skate emerged as the first true competitor to the overwhelming dominance of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series. It was arguably the first skateboarding game to not attempt to copy Activision and Neversoft’s extreme sports franchise and, as such, was praised for bringing a fresh perspective to a genre that was beginning to show its age and the cracks in its armor.
With its focus on realism and physics-based gameplay, Skate built itself a dedicated following of ravenous fans. This success led to a sequel in 2009, but the franchise was quickly abandoned after the release of 2010’s Skate 3.
In recent years, the skateboarding genre has begun to experience a comeback of sorts. Indie titles Session, Skater XL, and SkateBIRD have reminded gaming enthusiasts of their long-forgotten passion for extreme sports video games.
Earlier this year, publisher Activision announced Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+ 2, a big-budget revival of their classic skateboarding franchise, and now EA has followed suit with their own high-profile skating renaissance.
The closing moments of the 2020 EA Play event featured unexpected appearances from Cuz Parry and Deran Chung, members of the original EA Black Box team who developed the classic Skate trilogy. While they didn’t provide anything in terms of footage, details, or even a title, they did confirm development on a new title in the Skate franchise.
Well, let’s just wait & see again shall we?
