Highlights
- EA's upcoming Skate reboot has been highly anticipated by fans for over a decade, and now they have finally gotten a glimpse of the game's map from a closed playtest.
- The leaked map appears to be on the smaller side, but skating games tend to boast densely packed parks and skating-friendly areas in between streets, so there may still be plenty to explore.
- The map suggests the possibility of a larger open world, as the bridge on the upper left side seems cut off, and the presence of icons representing other players aligns with Skate's free-to-play live service model.
The map of EA's upcoming Skate reboot has been shared online, originating from the game's closed playtesting sessions. Following the footsteps of the popular Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games, EA started its own Skate franchise in the late 2000s to huge success, quickly becoming one of the most beloved franchises in its genre at the time.
With the 2010s seeing the skateboarding genre lose its relevance in the larger gaming zeitgeist, Skate fans have been waiting for well over a decade for the beloved skating franchise to make its return. Fortunately in Summer 2020, 10 years after the release of Skate 3, EA had finally announced a new Skate game. Being developed by Full Circle, a brand-new studio built by EA solely for this revival of Skate, and headed by some of Skate's original creators, the new title has been confirmed to be free-to-play with a live service model, and has been confirmed to land on PC and Mac as well.
Now, eager Skate fans have gotten a peek of the new game's map, or perhaps just a portion of it. On Twitter, an account named LetsTalkGaming posted an image of Skate's map from an official closed playtest they've taken part in. The gray map features several streets and a variety of different icons pinned to it, including bus stops and what seem to be the locations of other players.
This leaked Skate map does seem a bit small, though the open worlds of the Skate franchise have always been on the smaller side. There may only be just a handful of streets, but skating games are usually densely packed with parks and skating-friendly areas situated in between the roads. The right side of the map features a large building type structure which could turn out to be some sort of mall or indoor area rich with rails and stairs for pulling off tricks. There's the possibility that this leaked map is just a small portion of a larger open world, as a bridge on the upper left side of the map looks strangely cut off. Additionally, the icons of what seem to be other players on the map make a lot of sense considering Skate's status as a free-to-play live service platform.
Since it's now been over three years since EA's thrilling announcement of Skate, it's about time for a progress report and for fans to begin seeing more of the game. Skate has been in the playtesting stages for over a year now. If Skate really is progressing well, it wouldn't be unwise to begin expecting to see and hear more about it next year, perhaps at an EA Play showcase.
Skate is in development.