A Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 remaster seemed like an absolute slam dunk of an idea following the success of the remaster of the first two games, but it was recently revealed that one that was in the works was cancelled by Activision Blizzard. With Microsoft, and in turn Xbox, in the process of acquiring Activision Blizzard, one of the first things that they should do is revive this remaster.
Here’s why.
After an arduous decade or more for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater fans that included awful releases like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 and Tony Hawk: Ride, Activision finally gave the fans a bone with the 2020 release of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 across multiple platforms from series veteran developer Vicarious Visions.
While called a remaster, this game really was more like a remake, with a new engine, which of course brought with it improved visuals and physics. The classic releases still are fun to play, but they have become essentially obsolete with how well they were remade in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2. This is why fans have been anxiously awaiting a follow-up with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4.
For a while, it was assumed that that was the next step. However, that all changed when it was announced that Vicarious Visions was essentially no more after being absorbed by Blizzard in 2021 to work as support on Diablo properties. This was incredibly disappointing news for gamers who loved not only Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, but also Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy that they had developed a few years prior as well.
There was no official confirmation about Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 until recently when Tony Hawk was talking on a Twitch stream by AndyTHPS, where he mentioned that the game was at one point in the works but was shelved as a result of the developer disbanding. That doesn’t have to be it for this remaster though, as the sale of Activision Blizzard to Microsoft could change things potentially.
At this point, we have no idea how far into the development process this remaster was. We’ve seen plenty of games get shelved when they were nearly complete in the past, but it’s likely this one was earlier in the process.
While we do not know to what degree Microsoft and Xbox will be taking part in day-to-day decisions once they own Activision Blizzard, there is no question that they will want the companies under them to fulfil their own vision of games for everyone. What better way to show that than by bringing back a much-requested game like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4?
THPS 3 and 4 were both great games that would be glorious to see realised on modern hardware. They introduced a lot of new ideas to the series, such as the ‘revert’ in THPS 3, which was actually added into the remasters of the first two games to make them feel more fully-fledged. Even so, the third entry continued to improve on the first two and offered a barrage of fun challenges for players to complete.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 is the game-changer of the bunch though, as it was the one that introduced an open career mode that was more like Free Skate mode. This is what future entries continued to build on, but it was already very well done in its first iteration here.
These two games didn’t just feel like more of the same, but evolved the series and very much deserve to have a new life on modern hardware.
Ultimately, the decision on whether to deliver these remasters will come down to Activision Blizzard and Microsoft after the acquisition is complete. It’s possible this is something that will never be discussed at all, but Microsoft would really be losing out on what feels like a sure thing here if they do not at least explore bringing them back. Getting this as an Xbox console exclusive would be huge. Until then, the gaming industry is missing out without the existence of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4.
