Skate 4 may still be a thing yet. A recent trademark filing for EA's Skate series has seen the company renew its license for the Skate name. While an earlier report had caught wind of a February listing that was abandoned, EA filed for renewal in June that was granted to the company. This doesn't mean the sequel is being worked on, but more that EA is still interested in retaining IP rights to the brand.
This is bound to be great news for fans. Despite the last entry in the Skate series releasing almost a decade ago, many fans have held out hope that EA would make a return to the glorious skateboarding franchise. A popular title that spawned three sequels, Skate was quite the revolutionary sports game when it first hit the scene on seventh generation consoles. It was honest competition to the Tony Hawk's series, not to mention it bettered it in most areas.
Many an E3 has since come and gone with no mention of Skate. There have been teases and even spiritual successors from indies, but Skate hasn't come back. The series remains as beloved today as it was last generation, which should show EA that fans are still hungry.
With basically no extreme sports series around in modern gaming, EA has a real opportunity to turn its public image around by creating Skate 4. Going into the PS5 and Xbox Scarlett, it'd be a real trip to see a new Skate release as a launch title. Utilizing more advanced technology could allow for larger skate parks, more realistic physics, and potentially better online integration. If nothing else, it'd just be more Skate (precisely what fans want).
With EA being the center of many a controversy -from its lackluster PC launcher to its closures of many beloved studios-, it really does need a big hit to regain faith in gamers' eyes. Battlefield and Star Wars may be big sellers, but both series have come under fire for microtransaction issues. Battlefront II even spurred government intervention for possible gambling mechanics.
What better way to restore faith than with Skate 4?
Source: VG 24/7