You can start ringing the new Skate’s death knell, because EA says it’s online only

I think to properly convey my severe dislike of always online games I’d probably need more space and time than what an average RPS news article provides, but I’ll try to contain myself on this one. You see, EA’s just started up this new thing it calls The Grind (like what you do on a skateboard, get it?), which they describe as their “platform to talk directly to you, the community.” The first volume had quite a few questions from expectant skaters about the upcoming Skate reboot, one of the first being whether or not it’ll have an offline mode. Can you already guess from my tone so far that it won’t?

Because, as EA put it, “the simple answer” is “no.” They go on to explain that the “game and city are designed to be a living, breathing massively multiplayer skateboarding sandbox that is always online and always evolving. You’ll see bigger things evolve, like changes to the city over time, as well as smaller things, like live events and other in-game activities.” According to EA, this isn’t possible without a live connection, which I’m sure might actually have a technical justification, it just stinks a bit.

My guess is that they want to Fortnite-ify Skate so that the city can change in substantial ways, which is a cool concept! It just also means you’re eventually bound to get situations like The Crew where the game is just unplayable (which has resulted in a lawsuit, and offline modes for The Crew 2 and Motorfest). Maybe EA will add in an offline mode eventually so that the game will last longer than the live service fad, but I won’t put any bets on it.

In terms of other, less annoying details, EA do still plan to launch Skate into early access some time in 2025 at least. They also clarified that “there will be ‘cool’ things for you to earn and customize your character without having to spend real cash,” if you’re someone that likes your free-to-play games to be completely free. New areas won’t be paywalled either, and there’s no sort of pay-to-win element. Still don’t like the online-only stuff, but all of that sounds good at least.