Off the Shelf Media

When I sat down to write this article, I initially set out to create an honest, optimistic review of EA’s free-to-play Skate., released on September 16, 2025. However, the more I play the game, the more I feel this negative energy bubbling out of me. 

Something about this game feels so constricting compared to its predecessors. Honestly, I can’t tell you if this is a bad game or not. I can tell you that without a shadow of a doubt, the skating itself is pretty fun, and that should be the bottom line. Yet, the more time I spend on the game, the more I feel forced to come up with something to say for this article. And that depresses me. A game that is so colorful and was meant to be an exciting cultural moment for Skate fans, unfortunately, feels like another brick in the wall of the hellish gaming landscape we find ourselves in.

So on that positive note…. Let’s talk about Skate.

Let’s be clear. This is not Skate 4

First off, for those unaware, this is not Skate 4. The developers behind the game made that extremely clear in several interviews, insisting that this was intended to be something entirely new. 

This is Skate(.) – not a direct follow-up to the Skate trilogy but instead, something meant to rise from the ashes of EA’s blackbox, which, in theory, becomes a rolling game that can always be updated and changed, rather than falling into the trap of having to wait for a Skate 5,6, 7, etc. 

This change may seem inconsequential, like I am just an old man yelling at the clouds. But in my eyes, this is nothing more than a marketing strategy for EA and the developers to hype up and sell the free-to-play model behind this game as a strength, not a flaw. 

This gives them an easy way to manipulate the public into thinking that they are listening to what we want, as free-to-play games can constantly evolve and take new shapes. Sure, in theory, that does sound great and like a realistic way for users to keep these companies accountable. Instead, EA has garnered a different type of reputation. 

A rocky relationship

In 2012 and 2013, EA was named “Worst Company in America” for two years in a row by the now-disbanded digital platform The Consumerist, previously run by Consumer Reports. Disbanded or not, the multi-billion dollar conglomerate has seemingly yet to shake the reputation. It’s microtransaction-heavy, copy-and-paste model of beloved franchises, such as Madden, certainly hasn’t helped.   

So when this absolute powerhouse of a company that needs not answer to anyone finally gave in to the pressure of the Skate community, I, along with everyone else, was extremely surprised it worked. Now, mind you, the anticipation for Skate 4 wasn’t just a few bots tweeting about it on the dead internet, or some long-awaited surprise to bring back a franchise that hasn’t had a new installment in over ten years. This was one of the biggest community pushes I’ve ever seen. For the latter half of the 2010s, every comment on EA’s Instagram read two words: Skate 4. And I mean literally, every comment, for years. 

It didn’t matter the subject, it didn’t matter the post. If EA planned an Instagram post for that day, the notifications were going to be utterly flooded with fans begging for Skate 4. This went on for years. It took a while for the cries to be heard, but finally, in June of 2020, amidst a lot of other things going on in the world, EA finally announced they were bringing back Skate. The immense amount of comments and time it took for them to finally put two and two together is a testament to the rocky relationship they have with the public, but it was finally happening.

If you don’t believe me about EA’s checkered history with the gaming community, a short search will easily lead you down the “Star Wars Battlefront’s Microtransaction Drama” rabbit hole.  

In the years since, EA has become the friend who always asks to borrow $20, and you damn well know you won’t be getting it back, let alone any interest. 

Finally, an announcement 

And so, nine years after the release of Skate 3, plus an additional five after the announcement, we have finally been gifted a way to play Skate on next-gen consoles. For a long time, my Xbox One had essentially been demoted to not only a Netflix box, but more importantly, a Skate 3 box, being the only sure-fire way I could still enjoy the franchise. 

EA has not released Skate 1 , 2 , or 3 on next-gen consoles. I would take a guess that the choice not to remaster these incredibly popular games has had a lot to do with the rollout plan of Skate. If people still have access to Skate 2, less people overall will be playing Skate., which will drive down the number of battle passes and digital sweaters EA can sell to you.

So it’s Free-To-Play, but how is the actual game?

I’d say, in my infinite gaming wisdom and hallowed opinion….It’s pretty okay with a slight feeling of alright. 

Overall, the game feels sterile. I’m unsure if this just has to do with the fact that the game is in beta, but a lot of textures around the map feel lifeless and boring. If the intention was a new, fresh look, then they failed big. One of the largest and most widespread criticisms I’ve heard shouted from the rooftops is that this game looks like Fortnite Skate. Or Skating Fortnite? I digress.

This sterile aesthetic is complemented by the utterly atrocious voice acting and “story beats,” if you could even call them that. All of the “characters” talk to you over a walkie-talkie, meaning you just get bombarded with voice memos constantly sent to you by dudes named Slappy, Sandra, or even worse, the dreaded Vee: an AI skating tool that the devs had to of known wouldn’t be well received. Especially after the murder and disposal of Coach Frank, your skating coach from Skate 3, voiced by Jason Lee.

Coach Frank in Skate 3 defined the overall goofy and playful vibe of the game. A huge part of skating culture that feels absent in Skate. is an irreverent character like Coach Frank, who would not only coach you through the tutorial of the game but reminded you to laugh and have fun exploring the world of Port Caverton. 

Vee, on the other hand, feels like nothing more than an annoying itch in your pocket that won’t shut up or leave you alone, saying literally just the most lifeless, corniest things you could possibly come up with It completely takes you out of the experience. I wouldn’t be surprised if EA posed the idea of having an actual AI write and act out all of this dialogue, as it feels hollow and wooden. 

By the end of the tutorial, you find yourself asking what the point of all this waiting was? At the end of every challenge, I’m just earning tokens for mid-tier loot boxes and an AI program with no personality to send me in the next direction.

It sucks, man. Jason Lee’s Coach Frank gave the game so much life, and this new robotic form of constant communication is the opposite. You can turn off her little quips in the menu system, which I suppose is a plus, but I shouldn’t have to worry about a little AI voice saying “nice grind!” or “Footy is short for footage” while I’m traversing the city. 

Now that I’ve mentioned loot boxes, let’s be very clear: these loot boxes are very, very bad. Like look, man, I’m fine with rewards being random. I think you can do a loot box system correctly. If the boxes are earned frequently enough through progression and have enough randomized good rewards, it can be a fun experience getting a legendary skin or piece of clothing in a loot box. It gives a sense of exclusivity to what we are earning. 

If my buddy gets the green shirt, I’ll be pumped to get the blue shirt and be different. Yet, all of the cosmetics in Skate. feel absurdly lazy! The same shoes in four different colors, another plain T, except this one is salmon colored! Wow! But let’s also be sure to add a sasquatch costume for $25! 

It’s like EA can’t even remotely hide their hand as this blatant laziness retracts from the overall product.

Is redemption on the table?

Now let’s get into the skating itself. At first glance, the skating is fun, but that’s more so because it’s always been fun. The gameplay loop of stick flicking was such an ingenious idea to create a realistic skating feel. It always feels satisfying just exploring the map and getting from A to B, hitting grinds on benches and flats, and creating your own nasty lines.

I know I just framed the skating in Skate. in a negative way. Honestly, to me, the skating, although fun, feels like it has taken a major downgrade and has been made more commercial and easy. 

To an extent, ease of use should be expected of games like this in order to appeal to the greatest number of people possible, so it’s not going to be this absolute grind house of the most realistic skate physics possible. But still, you can front flip off like, everything, dude. I’m not kidding or exaggerating. Go try to front flip off a five-step, and you will land it. In the previous Skate games, there was just a little bit more skill needed to really perfect your skating style.

So fine, the skating is good. Not great, but it still has flashes of being enjoyable. Yet, we have to take another three steps back once we look at the map. The map is boring. On top of the sterile, corporate aesthetic I briefly mentioned earlier, the city feels flat and uninspired. 

The map is weirdly divided into four different sections, even though each section feels exactly the same. Skate 3 had three different zones that all had a unique feel to them. Meanwhile, I couldn’t tell you the difference between the skating in red zone or blue zone on the Fortnite-looking map of Skate.

Is free worth it?

So now that I’ve laid out what it feels like to play Skate., I think the question then becomes: is it worth playing Skate.? Or, is it worth digging the Xbox out of the attic to fire up Skate 3? Sure, it could be a plus that this game will be getting a lot more content and add-ons, but EA is on a real “I’ll believe it when I see it” type of relationship with the fans. 

If you’re still wondering, “Should I just stick to the old skate games?” I would honestly recommend to someone who loves Skate 3 but doesn’t have a next-gen console to get an old Xbox One and buy physical copies of the old games. 

Skate 3 towed an interesting line of being a good enough game that dedicated fans wanted to play it, while also appealing to a much wider audience of the more casual gamer. If just one roommate in your college dorm had Skate 3 on their 360, then the entire dorm became Skate fans. 

The genius nature of Skate’s “flick” system created this extremely intuitive gameplay loop that rewarded casual players with the satisfaction of hitting a gnarly line, while also having a lot of depth to fine-tune your skating style to create your own unique blend of how you approach every obstacle in the game. Skate quickly becomes a game of repetition, hitting your favorite spots over and over again, until you finally hit the line perfectly. 

But sadly, this isn’t an article about Skate 3. It isn’t even an article about Skate 4. To all of our dismay, it’s an article about Skate. I cannot express enough how much I don’t care about this game. I had to force myself to put in more hours to write this article. I’m never going to buy a battlepass, and if I get the hankering for some skating, I’m probably just going to dust off the ol’ Skate 3-box and bomb the observatory until I jump both bridges.

This game turned out to be exactly what everyone expected it to be. And I don’t have any answers other than to never sell your old gaming consoles, so you always have a chance to relive those moments you love from a time when games felt more special.