Skimming over the blatant audacity of announcing Skate 4 just a month after the reveal of the upcoming Tony Hawk remakes, many fans are still more than thrilled to be getting a sequel to Skate 3 after a decade of waiting. While details on the game are still practically non-existent, EA is rather subtly suggesting that Skate 4 will put a heavier emphasis on user-generated content and community interaction.
The news comes by way of a recent investors call, via VGC, which reported on a recent investors call helmed by EA CEO Andrew Wilson. Speaking about the overall direction of Skate 4, Wilson states that EA is looking to unlock “a whole new world” that will go “well beyond just creating a skateboarding game.” As for how this will be realized, Wilson expects the game to follow “secular trends” in the industry such as open world gameplay and, as mentioned, user-generated content.
“You take a game like Skate, and while skateboarding in and of itself has tremendous apparel to a huge global audience, there’s also another secular trend that’s happening inside our industry around user-generated content, open-world and interaction,” Wilson said. “For many people, skateboarding isn’t just a sport: it unlocks their access to art, culture… if you follow a guy called Nyjah Huston on Instagram, who’s one of the worlds great skateboarders, you’ll discover that he’s a young guy who started out skateboarding, but now is a fashion and art icon who lives in a big house in Beverly Hills and drives around in a Rolls Royce.”
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Andrew Wilson goes on to liken Huston’s evolution to the overarching aim of Skate 4, to start out with a skateboarding game that could evolve into something more thanks to its player base. “So for many people, you think about skating as a starting point that has appeal, but you start to build in user-generated content, exploration and community on top of that, and that expands the opportunity exponentially,” Wilson continued. “So as we think about our future and we think about growth, a big part of it is choosing games that not only themselves have apparel, but can benefit from secular trends in our communities that we think will grow them even beyond our initial expectation.”
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Given Andrew Wilson’s commentary, chances are we’re still a long ways away from any Skate 4 gameplay reveals, much less the actual title itself. The idea of a skateboarding video game with a core of robust user-generated content is certainly an intriguing one, just don’t expect to be driving around in a Rolls Royce after making your own skate park.
Thoughts on the Skate 4 reveal (ish)? Sound off with what you’re hyped for the most over on Twitter @PrimaGames!
