EA's Skate playtest has set a new record for the biggest playtest sign-up in the company's history. It's been a good year to be a fan of retro skateboarding titles, with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 dropping after months of rumors and EA bringing back its beloved Skate series. While Skate won't enter its full early access phase until later in 2025, it's already a big hit.
The last mainline Skate game came out 15 years ago, so fans have had a long time to develop plenty of excitement and expectations regarding what comes next. Developer Full Circle is confident it can deliver, too, with Head of Creative Jeff Seamster claiming the upcoming Skate reboot is the best the series has ever felt and performed. Those are some lofty claims, but it seems enough gamers were intrigued by the promise to push the game to impressive heights.
Skate's Art is Already Causing Quite a Stir
A lot of details are starting to emerge about the upcoming Slate reboot, with some renewed glimpses of its art style being quite contentious.
On July 25, the Skate team announced on EA's official game forum that over 1 million people had signed up to take part in its closed playtest. According to the post, that's the most of any EA playtest to date, which is a massive achievement considering the company's sheer size and range of games under its umbrella. That also comes despite the controversy of EA bringing microtransactions to the Skate reboot, which may not have been surprising given that the title is a free-to-play live service game, but still made some fans wary at how early in development the feature appeared.
The Skate Playtest Has Drawn Over 1 Million People
The post went on to say that EA is continuing to issue invites to those who have signed up for the playtest. Developers expanded the Skate playtest to include console players in early 2025, and the closed alpha has kept growing since. If EA is still sending invites "daily, every weekday," fans who've signed up but haven't heard anything yet should keep checking their inboxes, as a code could come through before long. However, the team says all invitations will be out by the end of July, so time is running out to be part of development at this stage.
Those who miss their chance to playtest the game can still look forward to another opportunity. The Skate reboot will enter early access sometime later in 2025, so the wait to play the game won't be too long. It will lack an offline mode at launch, but that could change in the future.
- Released
- September 16, 2025
- ESRB
- Teen / Crude Humor, Lyrics, Mild Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Full Circle
- Publisher(s)
- EA
- Engine
- Frostbite
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Sports, MMO, Open-World
