Developer Full Circle has confirmed that Skate will be free-to-play. In a new video posted on the official Skate YouTube channel, several developers spoke about Electronic Arts’ upcoming skateboarding game. The video reveals several new pieces of information, but the big news is that it will be free-to-play.
Full Circle’s justification is that it wants to make Skate as accessible as possible. It also believes that doing this will give players the opportunity to “fall in love with skateboarding, the culture, and the game.” Another decision that has been made to improve accessibility is having Skate support cross-play. All players, regardless of their chosen platform, will be able to play together, including last-gen, next-gen, and PC.
Unsurprisingly, making Skate free to play means that it will have microtransactions. However, Full Circle set strict rules during development to prevent the business model from becoming problematic. These rules are that the microtransactions cannot be pay to win, no areas can be locked behind a paywall, and there will not be any loot boxes. Players should still be skeptical, as EA has a far from perfect record when it comes to microtransactions. Even so, it’s nice to see the developers are aware of the potential risks that come with a free-to-play business model.
Full Circle doesn’t specify what the microtransactions will look like in Skate. Although, the head of product management Isabelle Mocquard says that the team has used the likes of Apex Legends as a model to follow. Given this and the self-imposed no loot boxes rule, Skate will presumably have paid cosmetics and a battle pass.
Promising transparency
Free-to-play AAA games like Skate aren’t usually known for transparency. There are a lot of behind-the-scenes discussions that can make it hard for developers to reveal information. To see Full Circle be so transparent and reveal all of this information early into development is a promising sign.
