Ready your fragile skeletons, virtual skaters: Skate will launch in early access in 2025, as announced earlier today in a tweet from the official Skate account on X. "We're incredibly stoked to announce that skate. will be launching in Early Access in 2025. We'll share more details on what to expect in the coming months," developer Full Circle said. Personally, I expect skating.
we're incredibly stoked to announce that skate. will be launching in Early Access in 2025. we'll share more details on what to expect in the coming months. pic.twitter.com/ZbFL3WycWuSeptember 17, 2024
Skate, or "skate." as it's officially stylized in a bid to frustrate anyone who has to mention the game in a headline, is the long-awaited relaunch of EA's Skate franchise, which hasn't gotten a sequel since 2010's Skate 3. The new Skate was officially revealed in 2021 alongside Full Circle, a new, fully remote EA development studio. Skate will be a free-to-play game with a microtransaction-driven live-service model.
Skate will take place in the fictional city of San Vansterdam, which Full Circle has described as a massively multiplayer space studded with solo skate challenges, pop-up multiplayer public events, and private match-style throwdowns that players can initiate on the fly. Skate will also let players drop down objects like rails and ramps on the fly to set up their own skate lines. You can catch a glimpse of that as skaters slap down ramps in the early access announcement teaser above.
Full Circle's been running internal Skate playtests since 2022, and video highlights from those playtests are available on YouTube alongside longer development updates. In the most recent dev update video from June 2024, Full Circle described its latest improvements to Skate's trademark, flick-based trick control scheme, which it said will have "improved accuracy and control."
Full Circle also said it's added a bunch of new tricks. I'm pleased to report that Skate will now feature both slappies and boned ollies, things I both know and understand. The studio also set aside a moment to confirm that socks will be customizable. That's skate culture, to me.
I was more of a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater kid growing up, but given that Skate's going the free-to-play route, I have no reason not to show up in 2025 when it hits early access. I might end up realizing I suck too badly with the flick controls to do any real skating, but hey—as long as I can launch myself off a rooftop while doing a Christ Air, I'll be content.
