Skate 4 is free to play, and officially titled ‘Skate’

EA has announced that “Skate 4” is officially called Skate, and that the game will be free-to-play.

The game, which will release on PlayStation, Xbox and PC, will support cross-play, as well as cross-progression. Whether the game is current-gen or will receive last-gen versions is unknown.

Revealed as part of The Board Room, the game isn’t technically a sequel to the three Skate games released in the Xbox 360 era, but rather a platform, that the team plans to expand for years.

The game takes place in a new city known as San Vansterdam, which is in the same universe as Skate’s San Vanelona.

As part of explaining the free-to-play approach to Skate, the team were quick to claim that the game won’t feature pay-to-win mechanics or any map areas locked behind paywalls.

Paid loot boxes also won’t feature as part of the game, and any microtransactions will be primarily cosmetic in nature.

EA is currently holding a playtest for the game.

Last week, several videos showing off the Skate 4 playtest leaked online.

The closed playtest, which gives fans a chance to test out an early version of the game, has proven extremely popular, but within a few hours of launch the build had been cracked and circulated online for anyone to download.

In a statement responding to the crack, EA said “We’re aware of an earlier version of the game that has been distributed without our authorization. This build is from September 2021 and was never intended for external use”.