Part of the Season 3 content for the free-to-play skate. will include a new map area that players will have to pay to permanently access. The idea of locking map content behind a paywall is something that the developers at Full Circle explicitly stated would not be locked behind any sort of a paywall.
PCGamer is the first to spot this little discrepancy between what is happening and what was said.
Despite still being in Early Access, skate. is getting its third season of content. Included in this season will be a reworked Isle of Grom. This is an updated version of the tutorial area for skate. that will be "expanded with a ton of new spots to skate and explore." There will be features such as "hillbombs, massive gaps, cool transitions, and some Skate 2 and 3-inspired spillway action."
This all sounds fantastic and is something that will surely delight players of the game. However, there is the small issue where, outside of a three week stretch, the Isle of Grom will be locked behind a paywall.
From March 10 to April 14, players that purchase the Skate Pass for roughly $10 will be able to access the Isle of Grom. From April 14 to May 5, the Isle of Grom will open up to all players. And then after May 5, the Isle of Grom will again be locked to everyone except for Skate Pass owners.
Somehow, it gets even worse. After May 5, if you do not own the Season Pass, you can purchase a "24-hour Isle of Grom Water Taxi day pass." This will cost you 500 Rip Chips, which are a game currency that you can only obtain from playing the game.
As PCGamer points out, having to spend a bit of cash to access new content really isn't too bad when it comes to free-to-play titles. However, the developers at Full Circle stated in July 2022, long before skate. was released, that they will have "no map areas locked behind a paywall." The team said that this was a "hard ground rule" for the game.
Of course, Full Circle is a studio owned and operated by Electronic Arts. There is no official word if the decision to lock map content behind a paywall was from management at Electronic Arts or from the management at Full Circle.
The social media team for skate. have been working overtime on Twitter. They have been trying to run damage control over this complete about-face.
Launching in Early Access meant we were going to work on the game in public while players played. We want to build this game to last, and it means we will need to make changes as we go sometimes. It also allows us to make improvements like updating our characters, lighting, adding tricks and other things we've changed since September. This change was made to ensure this game sticks around for the long haul.
Yes, sometimes plans have to change. That’s part of the deal when you’re building in public.
We're here, we’re listening, and we’re going to keep shaping skate. together.
We're here, we’re listening, and we’re going to keep shaping skate. together.
