One of Electronic Arts’ (EA) oldest game franchises, Skate, is officially making its major, highly anticipated return after years of quiet absence. Specifically, it’s been 15 years since 2010’s Skate 3 was released, and five years since the publisher announced a new entry for the series was in development.
That entry isn’t titled Skate 4 — perhaps the developers were put off by gamers jokingly flooding game show chats with “SKATE 4???” at the start of every world premiere for years — but instead, skate., a free-to-play live service take on the skateboarding game that launched into Early Access on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC (Steam, Epic Games, EA), PS5, and PS4 on Tuesday.
The new game has a distinct multiplayer focus, and at release, it features a colossal city called San Vansterdam where up to 150 players per server can skate together (or alone) by roaming freely, completing missions, or attempting special challenges.
At its heart lies Skate’s classic Flick-It trick system, improved to offer much finer control over performing stunts than what was possible in previous titles. The game’s physics-based skateboarding systems are a big draw, too, as is full support for crossplay and cross-progression between platforms.
As exciting as Skate’s return is for fans of its genre, though, there is one big disappointing aspect of the game that Steam users need to know about: its lack of Steam Deck compatibility.
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Developer Full Circle confirmed that skate. won’t work with the Steam Deck on the game’s PC specs and requirements page, also simultaneously highlighting that the game isn’t compatible on macOS or Linux; the latter operating system is what the Steam Deck’s SteamOS uses as a foundation.
This is unfortunate for those who enjoy using Valve’s handheld gaming PC to enjoy their Steam library, though it’s not terribly surprising since it’s been known that skate. would use EA’s in-house Javelin anti-cheat software for a long time. Kernel-level programs don’t work with Linux or SteamOS, and as a result, any game that uses them won’t work with Steam Deck.
Developer Full Circle confirmed that skate. won’t work with the Steam Deck on the game’s PC specs and requirements page.
Some good news, though, is that skate. will still be compatible with Windows-based gaming handhelds like the ASUS ROG Ally, Xbox Ally, and Lenovo Legion Go. The Steam version of the game is also native, which means that it won’t just direct you to another launcher and runs entirely through Valve’s client.
Another thing to note about the game is that mouse and keyboard aren’t supported for Early Access (though it sounds like it might be with the full release), so you’ll need a controller to play (I recommend one of the best Xbox controllers). “Full support for various upscaling technologies is in the works,” also, with some AMD FSR and Intel XeSS Super Resolution options available now, and ones for NVIDIA DLSS coming down the line.
It’s too early to say how skate. is being received thus far since it just came out a few short hours ago, but at the time of writing, it has a “Mixed” rating on Steam, with its user reviews split 50% positive and negative.
A ton of fans are simply happy to have a new Skate game again, though many have voiced their distaste with skate.’s “clean” aesthetic that lacks the grit and grunginess the older titles had. Other negative reviews mention missing features and day one server problems, though those issues aren’t exactly unexpected from newly-launched Early Access games.
Still, the hope is that skate. improves substantially as its developers build the game. Full Circle says the Early Access release is a “starting point from which new features, improvements, live events, and seasonal content will be added over time,” and that it expects a “full” release will come “approximately a year out” from now.
Of course, things can always change, so we’ll have to wait and see how development goes. Since it’s a free-to-play experience, though, you can at least try it out without having to spend any money.
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