This should shower the hopes of a lot of people. It was expected that the license skateboarding make its return with a fourth episode more ambitious than ever, with an insider program that would allow the game to improve step by step before its final release. And we thought that skate 4 would be a premium game, like the last three, but Electronic Arts has finally given more information about this episode, which has something to cringe some teeth.
An economic model that will make people talk
First, the publisher confirms that this skate 4 should now only be called skateboardingbut the biggest takeaway here is that this skateboarding will actually be a free-to-play thought of as a game service.
So the good news is that you won’t have to spend €60 to play it, but the bad news is that the game will be visibly filled with microtransactions. An evolution ” logic ” for Deran Chungcreative director on the project, while Isabelle Mocquardhead of production, indicates that the game will not be a pay-to-win :
” I want to make it very clear that this is not a pay-to-win. There will be no game areas hidden exclusively behind a paywall. Players will not be able to purchase gameplay-altering perks. »
In other words, microtransactions will a priori only affect aesthetic objects, but also the comfort of play if we are to believe The Verge. The team wants to establish an economic model which is based on respect, trust and transparency ». With such a model, the team says it is able to bring new features on a regular basis, with seasonal events.
The exit is not for now
Among the new features that have been highlighted here, we also find the “Collaboratories” (a funny name that is not definitive), which are areas that can be built collectively by a group of players. Chung says moderation will be very important here, and the team will take this job very seriously to avoid spillovers.
It was also clarified that the game would be cross-play and cross-progression between next-gen and old-gen, as well as on PC. The studio even wants expand this to mobile.
For the rest, it’s still a little vague, because the game is still far from its release. Mocquard states that the game will not be released in its final version until the community has validated the changes made, but Chung wishes to be reassuring by stating that skateboarding will respect the essence of the series:
“ It will be skateboarding. It’s going to look like Skate. It will be a Skate game. »
Answer in a few weeks for the first insiders, and probably not before 2023, at the earliest, for the others.