I have a fondness for theSkateseries. While I’m not a skater myself, my childhood was filled with being teased by my brother as he refused to tell me how to reach a rooftop in theTony Hawk’s American WastelandHollywood map, or as he pop-shoved it and kickflipped his way across the maps ofSkate 3. I always wanted to playSkate 3and prove to my brother that I could get good at it, so I’d secretly play it at night, growing in skill like an anime protagonist during their epic training montage.
Unfortunately, I never did get good atSkate 3, and my Xbox later suffered from the red ring of death. However, whenEA announcedSkate 4, I was over the moon. It represented a way of reconnecting with my brother and my childhood, while also giving me another attempt at improving my digital skating skills. Unfortunately,my excitement for the newSkategame has all but evaporated as EA has, once again, singlehandedly ruined a beloved series.
The New Skate Game Seemed Like An Exciting Revival
It Is Bringing Back A Beloved Series
I find it hard to believe sometimes that EA announcedSkate 4all the way back in 2020. However, since then, the developer,Full Circle, has actually done a pretty phenomenal job of showcasing gameplay and keeping players up to datewith theprogress ofSkate 4’sdevelopment. It has been a pretty exciting journey to be on, watching the clips posted to the officialSkateYouTube channel from the various alphas, as well as reading blog posts or watching the officialThe Board Roomseries.
While the gameplay has been pre-alpha, it still looks pretty great, capturing the realism of the original series while still retaining the hilarious ragdoll physics that made failing so much fun. Really, there hasn’t been anything aboutSkate 4that has, so far, seemed out of place or wrong. Full Circle is, by all accounts, doing a commendable job that will honor the fans of the series andSkate 4’sexcellent predecessors. Well, I say nothing seems out of place, but that isn’t entirely true. After all,EA is pop-shoving microtransactions into it, to the detriment of all.
Skate Is Adding Microtransactions Before Launch
Players Can Pay For Skins In The Alpha
EA has addedmicrotransactions toSkate 4’salphas. Players currently accessing the game’s alphas can purchase the premium currency San Van Bucks, which can then be used to buy cosmetics for their skater.The game isn’t even out yet, and EA has found a way of monetizing it, getting money from people who are essentially playtesting the game for it and helping improve it through their feedback. Why an alpha needs microtransactions is frankly beyond me, and, as far as I’m aware, it is the only alpha to feature them.
Any in-game purchases that players make will be wiped once the alphas are over, as progress is completely wiped. However, they will be transformed back into their equivalent San Van Bucks, which can then be used in the full release.
These microtransactions were first reported byInsider Gaming, but it isn’t the first time that they’ve been mentioned in regard toSkate 4. Back in 2022, a Reddit useruncovered lootboxes inSkate 4, meaning that microtransactions have always been on the cards. Honestly, if anything is going to get me to hate a game, it is the inclusion of microtransactions. That’s not to say that they don’t always work, or aren’t always warranted, butthey just feel wrong in aSkategame, especially considering the anti-establishment ideology that was at the heart of the skating scene in the 2000s.
EA Needs To Learn What People Loved About Skate
Microtransactions Feel Antithetical To The Skater Ethos
I’m not about to say thatSkateshouldn’t have microtransactions. After all,Skate 4is free-to-play, so it is only natural that EA would attempt to monetize it another way. Frankly,Skate 4should be a premium product, not an inevitable live-service free-to-play game, but who am I to tell EA that the live-service model barely works, even for publishers bigger than it, like Warner Bros. However,what really annoys me and drains all the excitement forSkate 4away is the fact that EA thought it was appropriate to put microtransactions into the alphas.
Can’t Wait For Skate 4? Try Session: Skate Sim
Session: Skate Sim, a new skateboarding game from creā-ture Studios, provides a new control layout and ample skateboarding for Skate aficionados.
I understand thatSkate 4’sdevelopment costs must be high, especially considering how long it has been in development, and EA is trying to supplement that. However, I find it utterly ridiculous thatSkate 4has microtransactions in it before it gets a release date. There are other means to earn money during development, such as through a paid Early Access period likePath of Exile 2. I want to loveSkate 4, and maybe I will at launch, but EA is making it very hard to get excited about it thanks to its typical, and frankly exhausting, business practices.
