It’s been a while since we heard anything from the new Skate, which is being developed up in Vancouver, Canada by the new ad-hoc studio Full Circle. Thankfully, a new “Board Room” developer update has been released, with the focus being on a subject that’s been drawing a lot of interest and concern – the game’s online live-service structure.
According to the devs at Full Circle, Skate will be an “always-on” online experience, with a focus on bringing in a wide range of players under the banner of “Skate is for everyone.” As such, there will be multiple difficulty levels — Own It (easy), Crush It (medium), Shut it Down (difficult) – with greater rewards for those who pump up the challenge. Interestingly, there will even be activities that don’t involve skateboarding, with Full Circle showing off various climbing challenges. You can check out The Board Room Episode 3 for yourself, below.
Full Circle detailed a number of activities they’re planning to bring to Skate, including more traditional challenges, Pop-Up events, and Throwdowns that will allow you to challenge other players to quick challenges whenever and wherever you want. Here’s a rundown of what to expect from the game…
- Challenges – short solo experiences that rotate in and out periodically. Unlike previous games, these Challenges will change so that replaying challenges will force you to think of new ways to tackle them.
- Pop-ups – Dynamic events around the city that are meant to be co-operative experiences.
- Community Events – Come one, come all type events for the whole community to participate in together.
- Throwdowns – Customizable and user-initiated. Throwdowns allow players to gather together, build friendships (or maybe rivalries), practice or show off.
During the presentation, Skate creative director Cuz Perry also went out of his way to clarify some things. Despite leaks from testers hinting some form of loot boxes are being considered for Skate, Perry again insisted they won’t be in the game. He also reassured fans that console testing is coming at some point and that the full version of Skate will have a storyline that will evolve as the game updates.
Skate is coming to PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and Full Circle is “exploring” mobile. The game is still in pre-alpha and without a release window.
