In one of the weirder developments of the month, the servers for Skate 3 have been reactivated without comment and acknowledgement by EA, allowing returning players to play on user-generated maps and other deactivated features in the game.
The sudden reactivation of the game’s servers and its close proximity to the upcoming E3 has led many fans to speculate a long awaited Skate 4 announcement, something fans have been clamouring for with rising volume over the years.
Since Skate 3’s release all the way back in 2010, the series has been relatively dormant. Various fan campaigns have cropped up to try and rouse EA into developing a fourth entry in the series for the eighth generation of consoles. In early 2016, fans flooded EA’s social media pages with the caption “Skate 4” with even EA employees tweeting out the caption, further adding fuel to the fire. In September 2016, the skate-park known as The Berrics launched a campaign to get EA to develope a Skate 4, using the slogan “Make EA Skate Again”.
With the original Skate being released early in the seventh generation of consoles, it took the space left behind by the long declining Tony Hawk series. Since its now over eight year absence, there hasn’t been anything new to fill the skating gap in the industry (yes, I am trying to scrub Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 from my memory), a new game in the Skate series would be a welcome announcement at EA’s conference this E3…..or it could just be a remaster announcement. Fingers crossed for the former. .