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The new Skate game from EA Sports and Full Circle will be a free-to-play, live service. This is, of course, the natural progression of a series that strives to be a skating sandbox where you figure out the rules one at a time, but it’s certainly a surprising change of direction for a franchise that has historically been a full-priced AAA game.
Although the project is still in very early development – as evidenced by a recent video that showed the current state of the project – the plan is for the final version to include full crossplay and cross-progression between PC and consoles. There is a leaked alpha version making the rounds as well, but the developer has kindly asked fans not to download it.
While Full Circle is eager to impress the idea that this will be a traditional skate game through and through, it also embraces many of the trends we see in releases like Fortnite and Minecraft. Chief among these are CollaboZones, which are zones that players will be able to co-build and share with others online in real-time.
All of this will help you create an ever-evolving sandbox environment where the challenges you face and the lines you ride are always changing and adapting. Of course, all of this raises concerns about microtransactions, but speaking to The Verge, product manager Isabelle Mocard emphasized that it won’t be “pay-to-win.” Instead, monetization will be more about cosmetics.
Honestly, this will be a controversial direction for some, but it sounds like a smart direction for the series to take in this day and age. Free-to-play lowers the barrier to entry, and the live service means there are potentially dozens of events and partnerships that EA Sports will be able to integrate into the game over time. We are excited to learn more.
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