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The game that used to be known as Skate 4 will now just be named skate., and will be a free-to-play live service game.
Unlike its predecessors, skate. will not be a game you'll just buy and enjoy. skate. will instead be a free-to-play, live service game that has gotten fans worried about how it will be implemented well. But before we talk about why fans are worried, let's go over what's worrying them first.
skate. will be a free-to-play game with cross-play and cross-progression between Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. The game currently has no release date yet, and a mobile version is also in the works. The game is described by the developers as a free-to-play, not free-to-win game, with microtransactions revolving around cosmetics and conveniences. Developer Full Circle claims that going free-to-play live service is a “natural evolution” for the Skate franchise. Fans beg to differ.
Fans have every right to be worried, of course, especially with statements like “It’s not Skate 4… This isn’t a sequel. It’s not a remake. It’s not a reboot, a prequel; it’s not any of that. It’s not a remake or a remaster, whatever ‘re’ you can do. This is it, it’s skate. We’re in this for the long haul. That means we’re not an iterative title. There won’t be a Skate 5 through 10. We won’t be pumping them out all the time. We’re going to do this. We’re going to listen to what you guys say over the course of time, and put the features that you guys want into it. Okay, and one more time for the people in the back, it’s skate. It’s NOT Skate 4. Just skate. Period. That’s why we put a little period after it.”
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So, the developers themselves admit that this game isn't what the fans want, and the developers should know what to expect from fans coming from a statement like that.
Fans just want to buy a new Skate game with better graphics and better mechanics. Instead, the message fans are getting is that they'll be getting a game that is inconvenient to play unless you pay. A game that doesn't have all features at launch and will have to wait for trickling gameplay updates before actually getting the good parts of the game. A game that has to give concessions because of limitations of other consoles just so the game can continue its cross-play and cross-progression environment. Everything Electronic Arts and Full Circle have said so far about skate. is everything that Skate fans are concerned about.
There are, admittedly, good free-to-play games. There is a way for games to work well being free-to-play without being predatory or abusive with their microtransactions. The team behind skate. knows this, as they say that “a healthy model that will allow us to continue investing back into the game” is a business model that is based on “respect, trust, and transparency.” That is true. But Electronic Arts has proven time and time again that they are great in two things: one, in ruining franchises that fans love (like Command & Conquer, Red Alert, The Sims, and Sim City, among others), and two, in being untruthful and dishonest about their microtransactions and not acknowledging how their microtransactions ruin the games fans love (like FIFA).
Thankfully, voting with your wallet is so much easier when your voting against a free-to-play game.
