First of all, it’s not even going to be called Skate 4. Just skate. This is because studio Full Circle want the game to become a new platform that can be built upon over the years.
Skate was first announced back in 2020 at EA Play by Cuz Perry and Deran Chung.
Full Circle revealed in their Board Room update that the game is expected to be free-to-play on PlayStation, Xbox and PC (sorry Nintendo people).
San Vanesterdam will be the games’s city which has been described as sort of a sister city to Skate 2’s San Vanelona.
The skateboarding game, which will be the series first new release in over a decade, is being designed by members from the original Skate team as well as new people that are bringing fresh ideas and ideas to the table.
“Our mission is to create an authentic evolution of the ‘Skate’ franchise that can be enjoyed by all players for years to come” says Dan, one of the developers at Full Circle.
“To do that, we’re embracing and building on everything our community found special about the previous games and is giving us feedback on day-to-day”
Skate playtesting sign-ups available now
EA were recruiting playtesters for Skate last month and mentioned how it was a hard decision to allow players to see the game in such an early stage of development.
“We want to involve as many people and get that feedback integrated”.
Players interested in playtesting the game can sign up here If they want to see how the game is coming along and offer their own thoughts and opinions.
Cosmetic only micro-transactions
Going into depth about the free-to-play model, Full Circle did use the controversial term “microtransaction” but explained that there were four ground rules that they are sticking to while designing the game:
- No pay to win
- No map areas locked behind a paywall
- No paid lootboxes
- No paid gameplay advantages
The developers looked at games such as Apex Legends where the microtransactions are mainly cosmetic and will be looking at similar titles while crafting their own system.
“With such a model, we’ll be able to keep the community united between the players who decide to spend and those who don’t. That means that those social connections, those friendships made in-game, can flourish without splitting our audience.”
The game will be multiplayer
Players will be able to join multiplayer lobbies of up to 60 players in sandbox style gameplay. They’ll be able to show-off and experiment with new tricks while watching others pull off their own. This also gives players the possibility to perform large-scale and highly coordinated tricks.
There’s also going to be special areas called CollaboZones which are co-operative building areas where players can create the “most insane skateable things” according to the developers.
While no exact release date has been given for the game, Full Circle said:
“We want it to feel good and when the experience is just right, that’s when we’ll officially launch it”.