EA Reveals ‘Pre-Pre-Pre Alpha’ Skate Gameplay, Looks Dope

EA has finally peeled back the griptape on developer Full Circle’s next Skate game…sorta. It’s not like there’s an official release date or any definitive news other than the fact that the team is “still working” on it. However, today EA Full Circle did drop some “pre-pre-pre-alpha” gameplay footage showing off what’s been in the works and yeah, this new Skate game looks heckin’ dope.

You might’ve already seen bits of this footage. Pre-alpha gameplay of the next Skate game—colloquially dubbed Skate 4, though it should totally be called Sk4te—leaked in April. It showed some open-world skateboarding similar to Skate 3 but a bit more arcade-y and expansive, with hilarious ragdoll physics and some solid-looking skateboarding mechanics. EA pulled that footage, but now it’s ready to show us more. The publisher posted a minute-and-a-half-long video to Twitter and YouTube of what you can expect whenever this game launches, and it seems it’ll take inspiration from recent skateboarding games like Session and Skater XL.

So yeah, this is absolutely “pre-pre-pre alpha.” But what’s on display here looks real solid. The audio of polyurethane wheels scraping against asphalt or the tail of the board sliding along a metal rail sounds perf. The flip of the board has some nice realistic rotations, too. This is bread and butter stuff for a skateboarding game, but the next Skate entry seems to take it further. In the pre-pre-pre alpha footage, we see precise grind and flip control, which is great for folks who wanna play more technically. There are also more arcade-like elements with unrealistic physics to help with tricks on flat ground such as backflipping over a car. And it seems you can do all of this online, in what appear to be massive online skateboarding sessions. My body’s totally ready.

An EA spokesperson declined to answer questions, merely directing players to sign up for future testing through the Skate Insider program. You’ll need an EA account to complete the registration, and there’s no date for when a playtest will start. There’s also no guarantee that you’ll get selected for the next session after signing up, though the Skate Insider website does clarify that there will be “more opportunities in the future” to play the game. So, be sure to monitor those inboxes.

Who knows when we’ll actually get to see Skate 4, Sk4te, the next Skate game, or whatever the hell we’re calling it. It’s a shame EA didn’t have more to say, but the next Skate is gonna live rent-free in my head now thanks to this new pre-pre-pre alpha footage.