Skate will be 'an authentic evolution' of the series, but is definitely not Skate 4

Electronic Arts has revealed more about its upcoming Skate reboot, including that it will be a free-to-play live game—and why it's not called Skate 4.

We've actually been calling it Skate 4 for awhile now, because there were three previous games when EA first began teasing this one, and numerical sequences are generally how the industry works. But creative director Cuz Perry emphasized that the new Skate is something altogether different.

“This isn't a sequel. It's not a remake. It's not a reboot, a prequel, it's not any of that. It's not a remake or a remaster, whatever 're' you can do,” creative director Cuz Perry said. “That means we're not an iterative title. There won't be a Skate 5 through 10, we won't be pumping them out all the time. We're going to do this, we're going to listen to what you guys say over the course of time, and put the features that you guys want into it.”

Dan McCulloch, general manager of Skate developer Full Circle, described the new game as “an authentic evolution of the Skate franchise that can be enjoyed by all players for years to come.” That means it will be a live game, with regular updates, new content, and seasonal drops planned “for years to come.” It will also be free to play, supported by microtransactions—but not loot boxes.

“We knew that to support a never-ending, ever-evolving, free-to-play world of Skate, we'd have to look into different models for the game itself, which means that there will be microtransactions. And we know that this is a sensitive subject. That's why when we decided to explore this model, we made some hard ground rules to follow.” McCulloch said, Those rules include no pay-to-win options, no restrictions of gameplay or maps behind paywalls, no sales of “gameplay-altering advantages,” and no loot boxes.

Skate is coming to PC, previous and current-gen consoles, and mobile, and will fully support cross-play and cross-progression across all platforms, including mobile. There's still no sign of a release date yet—McCulloch said it will launch “when it's ready”—but if you're eager to give it a run you can sign up for a shot at the closed beta at ea.com.