EA has confirmed that the Skate reboot will be a free-to-play live service game. Rather than being a direct successor to 2010’s Skate 3 as Skate 4, it will draw inspiration from the plethora of F2P live service games currently on the market.
Skate also supports cross-play and cross-progression for players on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. According to The Verge, Skate might even go mobile at some point. As noted in an interview with The Verge and a developer video, Skate will also rely heavily on user-generated content. Developer Full Circle has revealed what it calls “CollaboZones”
As with all free games, monetization will play a big role in the success of Skate. There will be microtransactions, but they won’t change gameplay, said Isabelle Mocquard, head of product management at Skate. “I want to make it very clear that this is not a win-win game,” he told The Verge. “There will be no specifically hidden playgrounds behind the paywall. Players cannot purchase gameplay-altering perks.
This is of course a bold change for a franchise that has always been a paid title with little to no additional post-launch support.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAMGtFyrQLk
EA is seeing success from the live service with Apex Legends, and other streamers are seeing similarly strong results from this business model. However, there have been plenty of free flops lately that Skate would do well to avoid.
While we’ve learned a lot, we haven’t heard any more details about a solid Skate release date or even a release window. It may take some time before we receive our virtual boards.
Source : The Load Out
