EA’s upcoming Skate reboot is still planned to launch later this year in early access. But if you were hoping the skateboarding sequel would include some kind of offline mode, well, sorry brah.
In 2020, after fans had begged EA for years and years, the company confirmed it was making a new Skate game. In 2022, early in-development footage of the Skate reboot leaked online. A few months later, EA officially released footage of what it called a “pre-pre-pre alpha” build of the new Skate game. We also learned in 2022 that this new Skate game isn’t called Skate 4 and that it will be a live-service free-to-play game. And now, EA has confirmed what most people suspected (and feared): The new Skate won’t have an offline mode.
On April 24, EA posted a lengthy blog about Skate. This post is the first installment in a series the company calls “The Grind” which will feature regular updates from EA about the state of the game ahead of its launch. In the first “The Grind” post, EA answered some frequently asked questions, including whether the game will have an offline mode.
“The simple answer: No,” said EA. “The game and city are designed to be a living, breathing massively multiplayer skateboarding sandbox that is always online and always evolving.”
EA claims that over time the game will evolve, promising live events and both big and small changes to the city of San Vansterdam. And the publisher says the only way it can deliver on this “vision of a skateboarding world” is to require an internet connection at all times.
I guess it’s not too shocking that a free-to-play live-service game will require you to always be online, but I do think it’s odd that a franchise that has always supported offline play is going to offer zero options for players who might have wonky internet connections. It also means that, once EA decides the game is no longer profitable and shuts down the servers, the game becomes dead and unplayable.
Ubisoft is currently facing lots of legal pressure and fan backlash over this happening to the first Crew game. In response to the backlash, Ubisoft is promising offline modes for The Crew 2 and Motorfest. Something similar could happen to EA in the future if the Skate reboot shutdowns after a few years.
Elsewhere in the blog post, EA and the Skate reboot devs said they were still committed to a 2025 release. But they also reminded players that this initial version of the game won’t be “finished.”
“We don’t consider the Early Access launch the ‘finished version’ of Skate, and neither should you,” explained EA. “But the skateboarding experience will be great, and you’ll have tons to do with your friends in San Vansterdam. We can’t wait to share more details about what we have planned, both for day one of Early Access and in the months that follow.”
Skate is set to arrive on consoles and PC sometime in 2025. It will support cross-play and cross-progression.
.