EA’s revamp of the popular Skate franchise is still scheduled to launch in Early Access in 2025, but developer Full Circle’s blog reveal said no to offline play.
The developers at Full Circle have launched a new blog post today outlining the progress they’ve made on the next chapter in EA’s Skate franchise. Development appears to be well underway toward the team’s goal of getting the game into the public’s hands and in Early Access scheduled for 2025.
The first in a series of blog posts titled “The Grind” is meant to give fans an inside look at the developer side of things in Skate, and communicate with the huge fanbase the franchise has cultivated since the first title was released back in 2007. Today, devs have launched Vol. 1 of The Grind, and it details how the September 2024 playtest went, while answering burning fan questions on the in-development title.
Previously, Full Circle confirmed that the next installment of Skate would be a free-to-play title (to the ire of longtime fans of the franchise), and today, they’ve confirmed the enxt installment would not feature the ability to play online. The blog post answers the question on whether an offline mode would be included with a resounding “no.”
The post explains “The simple answer: No. The game and city are designed to be a living, breathing massively multiplayer skateboarding sandbox that is always online and always evolving. You’ll see bigger things evolve, like changes to the city over time, as well as smaller things, like live events and other in-game activities. In order to deliver on our vision of a skateboarding world, the game will always require a live connection.”
The Skate playtest was previously cut down by fans due to the build including microtransactions, and the blog post explains their inclusion was intentional. Full Circle says “We know that using real money during a playtest is a little unusual, but we think it’s the best way to properly assess and adjust the system before launch. If you see prices or other things changing over time, please understand that this is normal. And of course, you will receive the amount you spent during playtesting in San Van Bucks (SVB) when we reset for Early Access launch” assuring fans their money will transfer over to the Early Access period (and hopefully the full launch).
While EA’s next skateboarding title has confirmed fans will need to play online, no mention on a concrete Early Access release has been made outside of the 2025 window.
