Announced during the Nintendo Indies World show, Skater XL will be making its way to the Nintendo Switch next year. While nothing has been specified other than the release year, this marks Easy Day Studio's second console announcement, with the announcement that the title is coming to Xbox One just days before.
Skater XL is a new skateboarding game that focuses on realism, touting incredible board control and letting players skate in replicas of popular boarding locations. Skater XL has been in Early Access since December 2018, so the Xbox One and Switch announcements imply that a fully-fledged PC version will also be available in 2020.
Skater XL has been created with player demand in mind, filling a hole in the genre that has been left by the Skate series for years. This title aims for realism over all else, helping it stand out over other indie titles like OlliOlli and SkateBird. Easy Day Studios allows players to style tricks however they want, from how the board flips to how your character reacts and everything in between.
While Skater XL has been in Early Access since late last year, the 2020 release date for Nintendo Switch and Xbox One implies that development will soon be ramping up soon. At this time, only one location (the Los Angeles Courthouse) is available on the PC version of the game while Easy Day Studios works on how the skaters move and react in the world. It's not uncommon for Steam Early Access games to garner a lot of attention and players regardless of content and release dates though, so the same may be true for Skater XL.
The skateboarding genre has seen a bit of a resurgence over recent years, which is spearheaded almost entirely by indie developer efforts. Skater XL, in particular, is trying to fill the hole left by EA's Skate series, which hasn't seen a new entry in almost a decade and leaving fans frustrated. It's clear that Easy Game Studios is going for as realistic an experience as possible, moving away from the arcade-like feel of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater titles that popularized the genre in the first place.
But with the sparse Early Access updates and other skateboarding titles embracing a less realistic approach, it's hard to tell how Skater XL will land on the console market. The Tony Hawk series has moved on to mobile devices, while the Skater series has moved from mobile to PC with Skater XL. It's clear that Easy Day Studios has an untapped market on PC and consoles, but it's yet to be seen if Skater XL will deliver.
Skater XL will release for Switch and Xbox One in 2020. The game is available now on Steam Early Access.
