A few Skate features have been confirmed, but we're vexed by a remark about the 'future'

Update: In response to a query about Skate possibly having a futuristic setting, an EA spokesperson responded, "I can share that skate. is still in the early stages of development and as such, it’s too soon to confirm any specific features."

Original story:

As promised, something related to EA's forthcoming Skate reboot released today, but it's pretty slim: It's really just an assurance that the game is still in development and that various early players have seen it and think it's cool. It's straight up marketing of course, but there are a few hints at what's to come.

The short video features a lot of footage of motion capture, as well as various talking heads getting excited about the game. Some of their comments are interesting: One talks of its open world (no surprise, Skate 3 was open world, albeit broken into chunks), and another says that "playing with all the homies will be so sick," implying that online multiplayer is in—another thing that seemed inevitable, though it's nice to have it confirmed.

But one particular comment suggests something extremely unexpected that we didn't know or suspect before: that the game will be set in the future. Hit 0:52 in the video above: someone shouts "you guys are in the future" which is met by another astonished player saying "wait, the game is?" That could be a complete misinterpretation, or just clumsy editing, but it does seem possible, especially if you watch the vid with subtitles on. We've reached out to EA and update if they respond.

Oh, and it looks like you'll be able to climb, which makes a huge amount of sense given all the crazy measures players went to in Skate 3 to reach out-of-the-way places.

Elsewhere character customization, another Skate staple is confirmed, though in 2021 it'll probably be more detailed than what was offered in Skate 3 over ten years ago. It looks like this game is a while away: the Skate release date hasn't been discussed as yet, but I'd wager it'll be some time in 2023.

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.